Explained: What are the controversies surrounding Elon Musk’s brain chip experiments?

Billionaire Elon Musk said his health tech start-up Neuralink will soon be able to implant a chip in the human brain that would let the blind see and paralysed person walk again. Musk said Neuralink will begin human trials in the next six months. The world's richest man also intends to get one of the chips himself.

"We've submitted I think most of our paperwork to the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) and we think probably in about six months we should be able to have our first Neuralink in a human," AFP quoted Musk as saying in a company presentation.

Even though he said the company wanted to be “extremely careful and certain that it will work” before the human trials, several experts have said there were certain threats linked to the experiment and advised that they be done with non-invasive methods.

Earlier, the prototypes were implanted in the brains of monkeys and according to some experts, public records have documented how the animals suffered from them.

Musk’s neurotechnology company Neuralink has developed an artificial intelligence-powered microchip with the power to read and record brain activity. The chip could make computer control possible for people with paralysis even outside a lab setting. Musk had said in 2016 that the chip would allow a person with paralysis “use a smartphone with their mind faster than someone using their thumbs”.

The Neuralink chip is attached to tiny flexible threads stitched into the brain by a robot. The thread-like electrodes are connected to certain areas of the brain. According to Musk, the process of implanting the chip will take just 30 minutes and will not even require general anaesthesia. The electrodes of the Neuralink chip will be able to read the signals produced by special cells called neurons in the brain. Neurons transmit signals to other cells in the body, like our muscles and nerves, which read the signals and translate it into motor controls. A small wireless inductive charger will charge the battery of the implant from outside the body, Daily Mail reported.

These experiments on monkeys led to chronic infections in them. They also suffered seizures, paralysis, internal bleeding, and declining psychological health before their death, the Mint quoted the Physicians Committee for ResponsibleMedicine as saying.

Researchers have published case studies of the sufferings of eight monkeys due to the experiments. One such case showed that a 10-year-old female macaque had to go through a six-hour surgery for the implant. Following the surgery, the implants became infected and her “skin was eroded". She died after another invasive surgery.

In another incident, the adhesive in one monkey led to internal bleeding. This caused her to vomit so much that she developed open sores in her oesophagus.