The microchip device is proposed to allow the disabled to regain lost functions like speech and movement.
QUICK FACTS:
- Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday that brain chips by his company, Neuralink, will be ready for human trials in six months.
- The wireless devices are part of a plan to allow the disabled to regain functions like communication and movement once again.
- Neuralink has been conducting tests on animals and is waiting for regulatory approval for human trials in the United States.
- Musk believes human beings must “merge with machines,” an idea criticized by some. During an interview with Axios co-founders Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen that aired on HBO, the SpaceX founder said humans must merge with artificial intelligence, creating a “symbiosis” that leads to “a democratization of intelligence,” The Washington Post reported.
MUSK’S STATEMENTS:
- “We want to be extremely careful and certain that it will work well before putting a device into a human, but we’ve submitted I think most of our paperwork to the FDA and probably in about six months we should be able to upload Neuralink in a human,” Musk said Wednesday night in a public update on the device.
- The Silicon Valley leader responded on Twitter to a Bloomberg article regarding the announcement, stating the company is “now confident” the device is ready for humans very soon saying that “timing is a function of working through the FDA approval process.”
BACKGROUND:
- Africa will be unveiling their first humanoid robot named “Omeife” in Abuja, Nigeria within the next few days.
- The StemFocus Robotics Lab of Uniccon Group in Abuja created the six-foot multilingual humanoid and its AI algorithms in less than two years.
- The robot will be making its debut appearance at the “Future of Artificial Intelligence in the African Tech Ecosystem” event, where regional tech leaders, diplomats, and Nigerian government officials, including the minister of communication, are expected to view it.
Jon Fleetwood contributed to this article.
