[Adam] Elon Musk's Company
[Title] Elon Musk's Company Wants to Put Computer Chips in People's Brains
Elon Musk has a lot of business ventures. He is famous as the CEO of the electric car company Tesla and the rocket company SpaceX, and recently bought Twitter. However, he has another company that might be just as important: Neuralink. Its goal is to put microchips into people's brains. The chips will then help blind people see and paralyzed people walk.
The company made a big step this week. The US Food and Drug Administration gave it permission to begin testing on humans. Previously, Neuralink had tested its technology on monkeys. Neuralink had asked the FDA to test on humans before, but was rejected because of safety concerns. Now they have finally been given approval. Experts say that it will be a long time before Neuralink's technology can help people. But their dream may already be close to coming true. Just this week, scientists in Switzerland were able to help a paralyzed man walk using chips implanted in his brain, the same type of technology that Neuralink hopes to use.
just as good, nice, easily, etc. no less than; equally
She's just as smart as her sister.
You can get there just as cheaply by plane.
By James FitzGerald
BBC News
Elon Musk's brain-chip firm says it has received approval from the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) to conduct its first tests on humans.
The Neuralink implant company wants to help restore vision and mobility to people by linking brains to computers.
It says it does not have immediate plans to start recruiting participants. Mr Musk's previous ambitions to begin tests came to nothing.
The FDA said it acknowledged Neuralink's announcement.
An earlier bid by Neuralink to win FDA approval was rejected on safety grounds, according to a report in March by the Reuters news agency that cited multiple current and former employees.
Neuralink hopes to use its microchips to treat conditions such as paralysis and blindness, and to help certain disabled people use computers and mobile technology.
The chips - which have been tested in monkeys - are designed to interpret signals produced in the brain and relay information to devices via Bluetooth.
Experts have cautioned that Neuralink's brain implants will require extensive testing to overcome technical and ethical challenges if they are to become widely available.
Mr Musk has also previously suggested that the proposed technology could help ease concerns about humans being displaced by AI.
Announcing Thursday's news on Twitter, Neuralink talked of an "important first step that will one day allow our technology to help many people".
The approval was "the result of incredible work by the Neuralink team in close collaboration with the FDA", it said.
The firm promised more information "soon" on plans to sign up trial participants.
Its website promises that "safety, accessibility and reliability" are all priorities during its engineering process.
The company - which was co-founded by Mr Musk in 2016 - has repeatedly overestimated the speed at which it can execute its plans.
Its initial aim was to start planting chips in human brains in 2020, in order to honour a pledge made the year before. It later vowed to get started in 2022.
The business was dealt another setback in December last year, after reportedly coming under investigation for alleged animal welfare violations in its work. It earlier denied similar claims.
Its announcement on FDA approval for human tests follows recent news of a similar breakthrough involving brain implants by Swiss researchers.
A paralysed man from the Netherlands was able to walk simply by thinking about it - thanks to a system of implants which wirelessly transmit his thoughts to his legs and feet.
bid (n.)
(used especially in newspapers)
an effort to do something or to obtain something
>bid for something a bid for power
>bid to do something a desperate bid to escape from his attackers
displace (v.) [often passive] (formal)
to force people to move away from their home to another place
>be displaced (by something) Around 10 000 people have been displaced by the fighting.
>displace somebody If the dam is built it will displace 100 000 people.
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