Neuralink wins FDA breakthrough nod for vision-restoring implant

Neuralink announced on social media that it received FDA breakthrough device designation for its vision-restoring Blindsight implant.

On the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), the Elon Musk-backed brain-computer interface (BCI) venture wrote:

“We have received Breakthrough Device Designation from the FDA for Blindsight. Join us in our quest to bring back sight to those who have lost it.”

Musk, who also owns the X platform, quoted Neuralink’s post to elaborate. He said the Blindsight device “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 wrote. “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. Much appreciated, FDA!”

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