Elon Musk's bid to implant microchips in human brains rejected over safety concerns

Elon Musk's attempt to implant microchips into human brains has been rejected by US medical regulators over concerns about the safety of the technology.

Mr Musk's Neuralink business, which is hoping to insert tiny chips into people's skulls to treat conditions such as paralysis and blindness, was denied initial permission for clinical trials last year.

US medical regulators were said to have "dozens" of concerns over the risks posed by the device, Reuters reported. Concerns include fears that tiny electrodes could get lodged in other parts of the brain, which could impair cognitive function or rupture blood vessels.

Neuralink's chips are designed to be threaded into the brain using tiny filaments and harness artificial intelligence technology to pick up brain activity using a so-called "brain computer interface".

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Source: The Times, 3 March 2023