EALTH CARE
Neuralink’s speech-restoring device set for October trial
It’s the stuff of science fiction, but this isn’t “Star Trek,” and it’s no longer fiction as Elon Musk’s Nearalink gears up to test another brain chip device, this time for those who have lost their ability to speak.
Neuralink will start a clinical trial of its newest device designed to restore speech as early as next month, according to a new report.
In May, Elon Musk’s brain implant company received FDA Breakthrough Designation for its implanted brain-computer interface technology that the company said will let those with speech disorders communicate again by recording and decoding brain signals to turn thought into speech or text.
A link to join Neuralink’s patient registry to be part of the clinical trial is still live on the company’s website.
During a lecture at the Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies in Seoul last week, Neuralink's president and COO DJ Seo discussed the project as part of his presentation, Bloomberg reported. Seo said the device could translate imagined speech into actual words.
Founded in 2016, Neuralink has been busy the past two years. In January 2024, the company successfully completed its first chip implant in a human brain, followed by a second patient receiving an implant eight months later. And in September that year, Neuralnik received Breakthrough Device Designation from the FDA for its eye-sight restoring device Blindsight.
Since then, the pace has only accelerated. Here’s a look at some of Neuralink’s 2025 milestones:
- April: Musk said the first patient will receive Neuralink’s Blindsight, this year
- May: Brad Smith, the first nonverbal recipient of a Neuralink brain chip, released a video sharing how he was able to create, edit and narrate a video using the brain computer interface. Smith has ALS
- June: Company announces it raised $650 million in a series E funding round
- July: Neuralink starts recruiting for its first clinical study in Great Britain
- September: Two Canadian patients with spinal cord injuries received brain chip implants
What once sounded like science fiction is now in human trials. While Neuralink grabs headlines thanks to Musk, it’s far from alone. Just last month, Sam Altman announced he was co-founding Merge Labs, a brain interface startup that puts him in direct competition with his longtime rival. That rivalry could fuel faster breakthroughs, and with other players like Synchron in the mix, the race is on to reinvent not only how we interact with technology, but how technology helps us interact.