Billionaire Elon Musk has claimed that Neuralink’s brain chips will soon allow paralysed people to walk again, Daily Mail reported.
His claims come after his company introduced the world with a brain chip that lets paralysed patients play chess with mind.
In a statement on X formerly twitter, he wrote, “Long term, it is possible to shunt the signals from the brain motor cortex past the damaged part of the spine to enable people to walk again and use their arms normally.”
Musk founded the company Neuralink along with seven scientists and engineers in 2016, focusing on the development of brain chips that translates thought into action.
In January this year, the company shared that the first paraplegic patient had received the implant.
On March 21, Musk on his official X account shared a clip from a video stream which showed patient Noland Arbaugh playing Civilisation VI using his thoughts to control the cursor on a laptop.
In the video steam, Arbaugh shared that, “The surgery was super easy. I literally was released from the hospital a day later. I have no cognitive impairments.”
To get the brain chip implanted, the patients must have a small chunk of their skull removed with the help of a “sewing-machine-like” robot surgeon who then stitches up the hole.
According to Musk, the procedure only takes 30 minutes and the patients don’t require general anaesthesia.
