WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Elon Musk's neurotechnology startup Neuralink had allegedly known for years that wires in the brain implant named 'telepathy' have the tendency to retract but still went ahead with the surgery, according to a report by Reuters.
The publisher confirmed that the U.S. Food and Drugs Administration is keeping an eye on Neuralink's test subjects.
Last week, the company announced that its first brain implant device developed a problem as several neural activity-recording threads retracted from the patient Noland Arbaugh's brain, reducing the number of effective electrodes and leaving the patient unable to move the cursor with his mind.
'In response to this change, we modified the recording algorithm to be more sensitive to neural population signals, improved the techniques to translate these signals into cursor movements, and enhanced the user interface,' Neuralink said at that time.
Following the adjustment, the company noted an improvement in the device's bits-per-second, a unit to measure speed and accuracy of cursor speed.
However, the news agency claims that changing algorithms every time the device malfunctions might degrade the device's performance, and could even result in neurological damage.
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