Some of Neuralink’s competitors, such as Precision Neuroscience, are developing implants that sit on top of the brain, or in Synchron’s case, stent-like devices that are inserted into blood vessels and placed in the brain. These devices are intended to allow people with paralysis to communicate using digital devices by reading electrical patterns produced by groups of neurons.
Neuralink wasn’t exactly clandestine. Live Streaming Demonstration of Years of Technology and We published a white paper in 2019But some researchers say the company also hasn’t been the most transparent about its research. (Neuralink did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)
In light of reports in WIRED and elsewhere that Neuralink’s brain implants may have caused problems in monkeys, New York University bioethicist Arthur Caplan says the company should be more proactive about its research. said. “I think you have an obligation to your audience to say, ‘Our science is sound,’ and that has to be confirmed not only by company stakeholders but also by your colleagues,” he says. . “The moral obligation here is to protect the subject.”
To be clear, Neuralink is under no legal obligation to disclose details of human and animal testing.
The FDA requires that all stages of drug trials be posted on ClinicalTrials.gov. ClinicalTrials.gov is a government database that includes information such as the number of participants enrolled in a study, the location of the trial site, and the outcomes the trial will evaluate. However, feasibility studies for medical devices in the early stages of development do not need to be registered on the site. These studies may include just a few subjects.
Much of what is known about the Neuralink trial is A pamphlet released by the company last fall. The study will target people who are at least 22 years old and have quadriplegia due to spinal cord injury or a disease called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The first study will include multiple clinic visits over 18 months with long-term follow-up lasting 5 years. The study will take about six years to complete, according to the brochure.
But Caplan others We believe the public deserves more information about this study and the current status of the participants.
“People take great care of their brains. It’s the most personal thing to us,” said Justin Sanchez, a technical researcher at Battelle, an Ohio nonprofit research organization that has conducted human BCI research. To tell. “When you start talking about developing medical devices for the brain, you need transparency.”
Being more open about research could also curb misinformation about what Neuralink’s technology can actually do. BCIs are not yet thought-reading devices in the way people think they are, Sanchez said. Subjects go through a training period where they are taught how to think about intended actions, such as moving a cursor. The implant picks up brain signals that encode this intention. Over time, the BCI software learns what the signals associated with this intent are and translates them into commands that execute the user’s intent.
“There’s a huge gap between what’s happening today in very small subsets of neurons and understanding complex thinking and more sophisticated types of cognition,” Sanchez says. The latter will require more sophisticated neural techniques. Perhaps multiple implants in different parts of the brain would be needed to record from more neurons, he says. Neuralink’s device is implanted in the area of the brain that controls motor intentions.
“There’s a public fear of brain manipulation,” Caplan said.in 2022 survey In a survey conducted by Pew Research Center, a majority of American respondents said widespread use of brain chips to improve cognitive function is a bad idea. “Starting this completely in the dark is not the way to get the public’s attention.”