Chinese authorities have launched a major push towards developing brain-computer interfaces (BCI) similar to Elon Musk’s Neuralink, according to local reports.
Several brain chip startups have already received approval from health regulators to sell devices, while insurers have announced the first commercial policies that cover the invasive surgery required to fit them.
Once implanted in the brain, a BCI device can translate a user’s thoughts into digital or physical actions, such as controlling a computer or a robotic body.
China became the first country in the world to approve BCI devices for commercial uses earlier this year, with Beijing classing the technology as a core future strategic industry in its latest five-year plan.
The latest device to win market approval is a cap studded with electrodes developed by Tianjin-based Tiankai Suishi Intelligent Technology, South China Morning Post reported.
The cap, which is already on sale, allows doctors to assess and diagnose a patient’s cognitive functions.
Elon Musk has previously described the coin-sized Neuralink device as a “Fitbit in your skull”, claiming that future versions will allow wearers to achieve a “sort of symbiosis” with artificial intelligence.
“It could even get to the point where you can upload your memories and essentially have a saved version of yourself… then download that into a robot body or a clone version of your original self,” he said during an event last year.
“I’m really getting into sci fi here…. but I do think stuff like that will be possible, which would give people a form of immortality.”
In October, Neuralink revealed that more than 10,000 people have signed up to its patient registry in order to partake in trials of the brain chip technology.
There have already been at least 26 patients enrolled or implanted with Neuralink’s brain-computer interface, according to reports.
Early testers have included people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and quadriplegics.
Trials have successfully demonstrated the chip’s ability to control computers with a person’s thoughts, as well as move robotic limbs.
“Participants in our clinical trials have extended digital computer control to physical devices such as assistive robotic arms,” Neuralink wrote in a social media post in December.
“Over time, we plan to expand the range of devices controllable via Neuralink.”
Beijing-backed startup NeuCyber Neurotech said earlier this year that its most advanced product is still around three years behind the capabilities of Neuralink.
