Elon Musk’s brain-chip company Neuralink has been given a “Breakthrough Device” status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its experimental vision-restoring implant, Blindsight. This is a significant development for the field of neurotechnology. Musk claimed, in a tweet, that blindsight has the potential to help people who have lost both their eyes and their optic nerve regain their clarity of vision. As long as their visual cortex is unharmed, this ground-breaking technology may potentially enable people who have been blind from birth to see for the first time.

Musk foresees future capabilities that could surpass natural vision, including seeing in infrared, ultraviolet, and other wavelengths, even if the device’s initial vision will be low quality, similar to early video game visuals.