Elon Musk’s brain implant company Neuralink, which has been a controversy magnet, has begun recruiting for its first-in-human trial. The company has received approval from the independent institutional review board and the first hospital site to begin the recruitment process. 

As per the company’s official blog, the PRIME Study (which stands for Precise Robotically Implanted Brain-Computer Interface) involves a fully implantable, wireless brain-computer interface (BCI) – to let people with paralysis control external devices with their thoughts – like a computer cursor or keyboard.

Elaborating on the process, the blog further stated that the study comprises three aspects. First, the R1 Robot will be used to surgically place the (second) N1 Implant’s threads in a region of the brain that controls movement intention. Once in place, the ‘cosmetically invisible’ implant will record and transmit brain signals wirelessly to the third step, an application that decodes movement intention.

Currently, the company is looking for candidates with quadriplegia due to vertical spinal cord injury or ALS who are over the age of 22 and have a “consistent and reliable caregiver” to be part of the study.

The participants will first be in an 18-month study involving 9 visits with researchers. After that, they’ll spend at least two hours a week on BCI research sessions and then do 20 more visits over the next five years.

The announcement comes five months after the company got a green light from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after a long regulatory scrutiny that the Musk-backed firm faced. Musk envisions that the Neuralink brain implants could potentially treat a range of conditions, including obesity, autism, depression, and schizophrenia. His confidence in the technology has been seen through his willingness to implant it in his own children.