Is Elon Musk contemplating investing in a Neuralink rival?

Neuralink is making an attempt to catch-up with Synchron, which in July started its first U.S. human trial of its expertise. The trial concerned implanting its machine into the primary of six sufferers. The primary affected person has ALS, a progressive neurodegenerative illness that impacts nerve cells within the mind and spinal wire. The objective is for the machine to translate the affected person’s ideas into motion—together with shopping on-line and speaking through electronic mail—by way of instructions which might be despatched to a pc. 

Synchron’s human trial is its second. The primary was performed in Australia with 4 sufferers who had no unfavorable side-effects and have been capable of talk and make purchases on-line, Bloomberg reported.

Neuralink, based in 2016, has but to start human trials. And it’s unclear what stage, if any, the corporate is at in making use of with the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration for approval to start human trials, the report stated. 

Each startups wish to create expertise that, in layman’s phrases, interprets ideas into actions for folks whose means to maneuver or converse have been affected. 

Synchron and Neuralink didn’t instantly reply to Fortune’s request for remark. 

Former and present workers informed Reuters that Musk was pissed off by Neuralink’s sluggish progress on its expertise, and his reaching out to Oxley got here after he made his frustration identified. Pressure inside Neuralink will not be new, as Fortune has beforehand reported. 

Neuralink’s former president Max Hodak left the corporate after serving as its chief since its founding and is now an investor in Synchron.