Elon Musk’s Neuralink is once again in the headlines and for all the right reasons. The brain-chip startup co-founded by Musk in 2016 recently received special approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for Blindsight. This experimental device is designed to restore vision, even for people who have lost both eyes or their optic nerve.

Sharing this news, Musk wrote in his tweet, “Neuralink’s Blindsight device will enable people who have lost both their eyes and optic nerves to see. Provided the visual cortex remains intact, it will also enable people who are blind from birth to see.

Here’s the story in five key points:

1. Neuralink’s experimental Blindsight device is designed to help individuals who have lost their vision, even in cases where both eyes and optic nerves are no longer functioning. This means that patients with conditions such as complete blindness due to optic nerve damage, usually considered irreversible, could potentially regain their sight. According to Musk, the device works by targeting the visual cortex of the brain, thereby avoiding the need for functional eyes or optic nerves. As long as the visual cortex is intact, the device could even help individuals who were blind from birth experience vision for the first time in their lives.
2. Musk also emphasized in his tweet that the first version of Blindsight won’t provide perfect vision. The initial resolution is expected to be low, resembling the blocky, pixelated graphics of classic Atari video games. Over time, Musk believes the technology could improve to the point where it could provide better vision than natural human vision. In later iterations, Blindsight could enable users to see in infrared, ultraviolet, or even radar wavelengths, extending the range of human perception far beyond normal vision.
3. While sharing the news of the FDA approval, Musk also drew a comparison between Blindsight and the technology used by Geordi La Forge, a fictional character from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation. La Forge, played by actor LeVar Burton, was born blind but could “see” using a futuristic visor that tapped into his visual cortex.
4. Notably, the FDA has granted Neuralink’s Blindsight “breakthrough device” status. This status is given to certain medical devices that can significantly improve the treatment or diagnosis of serious conditions. With this designation, Neuralink has gained the ability to work closely with the FDA to accelerate the development and review processes. However, the designation does not yet mean that the device has been approved for commercial use.
5. Interestingly, Blindsight is just one part of Neuralink’s ambitious roadmap in the medical field. The startup is also developing brain-chip interfaces designed to help paralyzed individuals control digital devices by thinking. Earlier this year, Neuralink successfully implanted one of its brain chips into another patient, who has since been able to play video games and interact with digital objects using just his mind.