Elon Musk’s company Neuralink has been given the green light from the FDA to start testing his brain chip implants in humans.

Founded in 2016, the company develops brain activity-decoding electronic implants which can communicate the activity to computers. While other corporations have implemented brain chips to help those with debilitating health conditions like ALS and paralysis, Musk’s chips have only been tested in monkeys thus far.

Medically speaking, Neuralink could potentially produce one of the greatest marvels of recent decades. Musk has said, “I think we have a chance with Neuralink to restore full-body functionality to someone who has a spinal cord injury.”

Admittedly, his intentions are to take the technology to the next level, expanding the capability of healthy people to remain on a level playing field with artificial intelligence.

“We want to surpass able-bodied human performance with our technology,” Neuralink tweeted last month.

Acknowledging that “the future is going to be weird,” Musk imagines a world where robots can surgically implant chips in patients at drop-in clinics, resulting in the ability to “save and replay memories.”

As with most pieces of technology, Musk already foresees customers’ likely wishes to upgrade their brain chips to the latest model.

“I’m pretty sure you would not want the iPhone 1 stuck in your head if the iPhone 14 is available,” Musk stated.

While the announcement is a noteworthy advancement in terms of bringing the technology to market, it is still uncertain if the FDA will clear the brain implants beyond the trial stage.

Musk is so assured that the devices are harmless that he would be confident in implanting them in his own children.

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