Elon Musk goes all Star Trek as his sight-giving Blindsight brain implant gets FDA 'breakthrough' clearance

Elon Musk's Blindsight brain implant has achieved a major milestone. It's now being worn by Geordi La Forge. No wait, it's actually been awarded Breakthrough Device Designation by the FDA. But to celebrate, Musk evoked the famously vision-enhanced Star Trek character in an X post.

According to Musk, the Neuralink device is designed not only to restore vision to those who have lost it, but even enable someone blind from birth to see for the first time.

The Blindsight device from Neuralink will enable even those who have lost both eyes and their optic nerve to see.Provided the visual cortex is intact, it will even enable those who have been blind from birth to see for the first time.To set expectations correctly, the vision… https://t.co/MYLHNcPrw6 pic.twitter.com/RAenDpd3fxSeptember 17, 2024

«The Blindsight device from Neuralink will enable even those who have lost both eyes and their optic nerve to see. 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 in an X post announcing the FDA decision.

The FDA's «breakthrough» status is applied to experimental medical devices that provide treatment or diagnosis of life-threatening conditions with a view to speeding up development and review of devices currently under development.

Exactly what Blindisght will be capable of isn't clear. The basics involve a microelectrode array embedded in the visual cortex and stimulating neurons, an approach than in itself isn't new. However, Musk did have the following to say:

«To set expectations correctly, the vision will be at first be low resolution, like Atari graphics, but eventually it has the potential be better than natural vision and enable you to see in infrared, ultraviolet or even radar wavelengths, like Geordi La Forge.»

Neuralink was founded in 2016 by Musk and a team of engineers with the aim of creating brain implants to help with a wide range of disabilities, from locomotion to sight and