Blindsight has been developed to enable individuals with total visual impairment due to damage to the optic nerve to see, but with an intact visual cortex. This is made possible by bypassing the optic nerve and directly stimulating the visual cortex to create a visual perception.
“It will be low resolution at first, but over time, the impact will enable vision that is like super human. To set expectations correctly, the vision will be at first be low resolution, like Atari graphics, but eventually it has the potential to be better than natural vision and enable you to see in infrared, ultraviolet or even radar wavelengths, like Geordi La Forge,” said Elon Musk.
He noted that the sight-giving chip possesses the ability to restore vision in even the most severe blindness cases of blindness and also works for those who have lost both eyes or were born blind, provided the visual cortex is intact.
Last September, Blindsight received a “breakthrough device” designation from the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), which marked a significant move for the brain-chip startup.
“Join us in our quest to bring back sight to those who have lost it. Apply to our Patient Registry and openings on our career page,” Neuralink said while sharing the approval development.
Co-founded by Elon Musk in 2016, Neuralink specialises in developing innovative brain-computer interfaces to transform treatments for neurological disorders. Its technology includes a brain implant that reads neural signals and wirelessly transmits them to external devices, including computers and mobile devices.
In its other work-in-progress projects, Business World reports that Neuralink is also developing an implant that enables paralyzed individuals to control digital devices with their thoughts. The company is also reported to be conducting a clinical trial with three participants to evaluate the device’s effectiveness in aiding individuals with spinal cord injuries.
Neuralink’s brain-computer interface was implanted in a second patient during H1 2024. The patient is now controlling video games and creating 3D designs using only their thoughts.
Concerns about Neuralink’s sight-giving chip
Several concerns have been raised following the unveiling of Neuralink’s chip. Firstly, there have been concerns about the level of hype accorded to the sight-giving chip’s breakthrough, which most attributed to Elon Musk’s popularity.
Reacting to Neuralink’s announcement, an X user @fisionandome said “There are institutions that have been doing It already for years… So much hype for Elon Musk.”
Another user, @BryanSmart noted that: “Others already did this, implanted in quite a lot of blind people, then went out of business. Now, those people have no support or replacement parts, and are suffering brain scarring where the electrodes were implanted. Lookup the “Argus II”.
Other than Neuralink’s sight-giving chip project, there has been the “Gennaris Bionic Vision System,” a bionic eye developed by researchers at the Monash University of Australia in collaboration with Alfred Health. The device bypasses damaged optic nerves and sends signals directly to the brain’s “vision center”.
According to experts, what makes Blindsight different is that, unlike other innovative retinal implants that send signals from a camera to electrodes that go directly to retinal nerves, Blindsight is a brain implant that goes directly into the visual cortex area of the brain. That’s why, unlike retinal implants which don’t work on people who are born blind, Blindsight will.
Secondly, experts in the field have demanded more information about Neuralink’s sight-giving chip restoration project.
Gislin Dagnelie, a vision scientist at Johns Hopkins University who has been involved in multiple clinical trials for vision prosthetics, including a Second Sight retinal implant, highlighted that there has been no clear evaluation of pre-clinical work that has been published by Neuralink.
“I’m leery about the fact that they are very superficial in their description of the devices. It’s all based on: ‘Trust us, we’re Neuralink,’” says Dagnelie.
Furthermore, he explained that too much hype could mislead clinical trial participants and degrade interest in small but meaningful advancements in visual prosthetics.
On the positive end, Philip Troyk, a biomedical engineer at the Illinois Institute of Technology, noted that the sight-giving chip’s technology is exciting and has potential.
“At best, we’re talking about something that’s augmentative to a cane and a guide dog, not something that replaces a cane and a guide dog,” he added.
