Neuralink given FDA green light for direct human brain to computer interface clinical trials

Neuralink announced on Thursday, May 25, that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the company to begin its first-in-human clinical trials for its computer-human brain interface technology.

We are excited to share that we have received the FDA’s approval to launch our first-in-human clinical study!

This is the result of incredible work by the Neuralink team in close collaboration with the FDA and represents an important first step that will one day allow our…

— Neuralink (@neuralink) May 25, 2023

Neuralink is one of many of Elon Musk’s ventures — implants that would allow the human brain to connect to a computer. The company tested the implants on monkeys at the University of California, Davis Primate Center (UC Davis) earlier this year. 

Neuralink highlighted a monkey playing the computer game “Pong” in April with the implant but were forced to respond to accusations of animal cruelty after a US non-profit sent a letter to the US Department of Agriculture. Neuralink did confirm that monkeys had died during testing but maintained no animal cruelty occurred and that “all novel medical devices and treatments must be tested in animals before they can be ethically trialed in humans.”