Blind people could regain sight with Neuralink's Blindsight implant, says Elon Musk

• Elon Musk says Neuralink plans to begin Blindsight vision implants within 6–12 months.

• The brain implant bypasses the eyes and sends visual signals directly to the brain's visual cortex.

• Musk says the technology could eventually enable high-resolution vision and even infrared and ultraviolet sight.

A new brain implant designed to restore vision to people who are blind could enter its first phase of human implantation within the next year, according to Elon Musk.

Speaking about the company's progress, Musk said Neuralink plans to carry out its first Blindsight vision implants within the next six to 12 months.

"In the next 6-12 months, we'll be doing our first implants for vision, where even if somebody is completely blind, we can write directly to the visual cortex," Musk said.

READ ALSO: 10 things you should never post about yourself online

Blindsight is being developed to restore vision by sending signals directly to the brain's visual cortex, bypassing damaged eyes or optic nerves.

Under normal circumstances, the retina converts light into electrical signals that travel through the optic nerves to the brain, where they are interpreted as images. However, diseases, injuries and other medical conditions can interrupt this process, leading to partial or complete blindness.

READ ALSO: Cybersecurity is not just for IT experts: Why every Ghanaian must take online threats seriously

Neuralink says its technology uses a small camera to capture images of a person's surroundings. The visual information is then transmitted wirelessly to a brain implant, which stimulates the areas of the brain responsible for vision.

The company believes this approach could allow people who have lost their sight to perceive visual information even when their eyes are unable to function.

Although Elon Musk has described an ambitious future for the technology, the first version of Blindsight is expected to provide only low-resolution vision.

People who have been blind since birth may also require significant rehabilitation to learn how to interpret the visual signals generated by the implant.

READ ALSO: Police licence checks at a road stop: What the law says, your rights, plus possible penalties

Musk said the long-term goal is to dramatically improve image quality and eventually give users capabilities beyond normal human vision.

"Long term, you would have very high resolution and be able to see in multispectral wavelengths. You could see in infrared, ultraviolet, radar, like a superpower situation," he said.

Neuralink's Blindsight has already received the Breakthrough Device designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The designation is intended to speed up the development and review of medical devices that could provide more effective treatment for serious or life-threatening conditions.

The company is continuing to expand its brain-computer interface research as it works towards making the vision-restoring technology available for human use.