Neuralink, a brain chip company founded by Elon Musk, is set to give sight to those born blind with its breakthrough device. The Blindsight device from Neuralink has been given the ‘Breakthrough Device Designation’ by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The device looks like something from Marvel and sci-fi movies but can restore sight. Now with the FDA’s breakthrough tag, Neuralink can speed up the development of the Blindsight device and review it. The company is also expected to conduct human trials.
Elon Musk’s Neuralink Technology For Blind Gets FDA Designation
In a social media post on X (formerly Twitter), Neuralink urged people to join them in the quest to bring back sight to those who have lost it. Those wanting to take part in the human trials can apply through Neuralink’s patient registry.
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Musk said the Blindsight device from Neuralink will enable those who have lost both eyes and their optic nerve to see. In an X post, he explained that for this the visual cortex needs to be intact. “It will enable those who have been blind from birth to see for the first time.”
The Tesla CEO said the vision will initially be low resolution, like Atari graphics, but has the potential to be better than natural vision. It will enable those with no vision to see in infrared, ultraviolet, and radar wavelengths like Geordi La Forge.
While this breakthrough device is touted to restore sight to the blind, it’s yet to be seen whether the Blindsight device will give sight to the blind. We anticipate that.
