Mr Elon Musk has suggested that Neuralink could attempt to restore limited sight to visually impaired patients as early as 2026.
As noted by Teslarati, a media outlet that monitors the work of Musk and his businesses, the executive posted the update on social media platform X amid news of Neuralink’s first successful Telepathy implants outside the United States.
In a response to a post from Neuralink’s official X account about its first Canadian patients, Musk wrote that the company is “Aiming to restore (limited) sight to the completely blind next year.”
Teslarati said the update was well-received on social media, as the device would most likely provide notable quality of life improvements to patients.
“Neuralink’s current implant, Telepathy, is already changing lives today, and the same will likely be true for Blindsight.” it said.
Earlier this year, Musk told the Qatar Economic Forum that the first human implantation of Blindsight could occur early 2026, potentially in the United Arab Emirates.
Neuralink has explored collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi to perform the initial surgery.
Blindsight has also received a “breakthrough device” designation from the US FDA, hinting at the implant’s development.
Musk has previously described Blindsight as Neuralink’s brain-computer interface (BCI) designed to restore vision. During Neuralink’s 2022 Show & Tell event, he stated that Blindsight would target the brain’s visual cortex, bypassing damaged eyes entirely to generate visual perception. This means that vision could be restored even for people who were born blind.
“The first two applications we’re going to aim for in humans are restoring vision, and I think this is notable in that even if someone has never had vision ever, like they were born blind, we believe we can still restore vision.
“The visual part of the cortex is still there. Even if they’ve never seen before, we’re confident they could see,” Musk said.
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