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Elon Musk's neurotech startup Neuralink implanted its device in a human for the first time on Sunday, and the patient is recovering “well,” the billionaire said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday.
The company is developing a brain implant to help patients with severe paralysis control external technologies using only neural signals. Neuralink began recruiting patients for its first-in-human clinical trial in the fall after receiving approval to conduct the study from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration back in May, it said in a blog post.
According to an X post, Musk said on Monday that Neuralink's first product is called Telepathy.
If the technology works properly, patients with severe degenerative diseases like ALS could one day use the implant to communicate or access social media by moving cursors and typing with their minds.
“Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a speed typist or auctioneer,” Musk wrote. “That is the goal.”
The human clinical trial marks just one step on Neuralink's path to commercialization. Medical device companies must go through multiple rounds of intensive data safety collection and testing before receiving final approval from the FDA.
Neuralink did not disclose how many human patients will participate in its first human trial. The company did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment on the latest lawsuit.
As part of the emerging brain-computer interface, or BCI, industry, Neuralink is perhaps the best-known company in the space thanks to the high profile of Musk, who is also CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. A BCI is a system that decodes brain signals and translates them into commands for external technologies. Several companies such as Synchron, Precision Neuroscience, Paradromics and Blackrock Neurotech have also developed systems with these capabilities.
Paradromics aims to start its first study with human patients in the first half of this year. Precision Neuroscience conducted its first human clinical trial last year. A patient who received Synchron's BCI used it to post on CEO Tom Oxley's Twitter account in 2021.
It's unclear which company will be first to market.