Neuralink announced it has received Breakthrough Device Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Blindsight device, which aims to restore vision for individuals who have lost their sight.
The company is encouraging people to apply to its Patient Registry and explore career opportunities on its website.
Neuralink CEO Elon Musk stated that the Blindsight device is designed to enable vision even for those who have lost both eyes and their optic nerve, provided the visual cortex is intact.
“It will even enable those who have been blind from birth to see for the first time,” Musk said. He noted that initial vision quality would be low resolution, similar to Atari graphics, but the technology has the potential to surpass natural vision, including the ability to see in infrared, ultraviolet, or even radar wavelengths, “like Geordi La Forge” from the TV show Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Musk expressed gratitude towards the FDA for the designation, saying, “Much appreciated, @US_FDA!”
This is definitely a gamechanger for those that get to experience seeing for the first time, or restored vision. It’s crazy to believe this is even possible.
I think we have all seen those TV shows/movies where some greedy billionaire flies around the world monitoring his rocket and transportation and energy and robotics and communications industries and is just doing it all just for the money, maybe even the fame and glory. But with Musk, when he says "Much appreciated, @US_FDA!” you know he means it and knows how much it means to their mission. He is one billionaire who really does care about his fellow humans. "Made on Earth by Humans"