Neuralink founder Elon Musk said he hopes implanting wireless brain-computer chips in humans will play a role in the existential risk of population reduction posed by artificial intelligence.

Musk’s neurotechnology startup company announced on Tuesday that recruitment is open to implant a wireless brain-computer interface in its first-in-human clinical trial. Officials said in a blog post that it would evaluate the safety and functionality of an implant and surgical robot for people with severe degenerative diseases.

“The first human patient will soon receive a Neuralink device. This ultimately has the potential to restore full body movement,” Musk said in an X-post on his social media platform. “In the long term, Neuralink hopes to play a role in AI risk civilizational risk reduction by improving human to AI (and human to human) bandwidth by several orders of magnitude. Imagine if Stephen Hawking had had this.”

“When a Neuralink is combined with Optimus robot limbs, the Luke Skywalker solution can become real,” he added in a subsequent post along with the famous scene in “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.”

Neuralink officials said the initial goal of the Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) aims to allow people to control a computer cursor or keyboard using their thoughts alone.

“During the study, the R1 Robot will be used to surgically place the N1 Implant’s ultra-fine and flexible threads in a region of the brain that controls movement intention,” the company announced. “Once in place, the N1 Implant is cosmetically invisible and is intended to record and transmit brain signals wirelessly to an app that decodes movement intention.”

The company received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May to launch its first-in-human clinical study.

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Neuralink received FDA breakthrough designation for its technology three years ago, and Musk repeatedly claimed that human trials would begin immediately. However, the company had its application rejected in early 2022 by the FDA over safety concerns.

Musk has touted over the years that the experimental brain-chip implant could treat disorders such as paralysis and blindness by bridging signals between existing neurons and allowing humans to save and replay memories, saying that “the future is going to be weird.”

However, the billionaire entrepreneur has repeatedly warned that artificial intelligence could pose a civilizational risk to governments and societies. Others have warned that such technology could eliminate more workforces across several industries and spread mass confusion among civilians.

Last week, Musk told reporters after a private AI summit with other tech giants on Capitol Hill that the consequences of artificial intelligence are “severe” and called on a “proactive rather than reactive” response.

“The question is really one of civilizational risk,” Musk said, according to NBC News. “It’s not like … one group of humans versus another. It’s like, hey, this is something that’s potentially risky for all humans everywhere.”

Earlier this year, more than 350 executives, researchers, and engineers in AI echoed similar caution about the technology subjecting humanity to extinction in an open letter.

“Mitigating the risk of extinction from A.I. should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks, such as pandemics and nuclear war,” the one-sentence statement said from the nonprofit organization Center for AI Safety.

Industry leaders penned the letter to overcome this obstacle, open up discussion, and create shared knowledge among those who take advanced AI’s most severe risks seriously.

Ukrainian officials suspended trans-identifying American junior sergeant Sarah Ashton-Cirillo from duties as a military spokesperson for the Eastern European nation after Ashton-Cirillo said critics of U.S. involvement in Ukraine’s ongoing war with Russia would be “hunted down.”

“Sarah Ashton-Cirillo has been suspended from the duties of the spokesperson of the (territorial defense forces of Ukraine) while an investigation is underway,” Ukraine’s defense ministry said in a X-post on Wednesday.

Ashton-Cirillo, a 46-year-old biological male from Nevada who reportedly went by Mike before identifying as a female, became an official spokesperson for Ukraine after volunteering for Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Service.

In a video posted on X on September 13, Ashton-Cirillo said, “Russia hates the truth, that their obsessive focus on a Ukrainian volunteer is simply allowing the light of the Ukrainian nation’s honesty to shine brightly.”

“Next week, the teeth of the Russian devils will gnash ever harder, and their rabid mouths will foam in uncontrollable frenzy as the world will see a favorite Kremlin propagandist pay for their crimes,” Ashton-Cirillo said. “And this puppet of Putin is only the first Russia’s war criminal propagandists will all be hunted down, and justice will be served as we in Ukraine are led on this mission by faith in God, liberty, and complete liberation.”

A transgender former US soldier who goes by Sarah Ashton-Cirillo recently moved to Ukraine to become the English-speaking spokesman for the Ukrainian military.

Ashton-Cirillo is now taking to social media threatening to hunt down and kill those who criticize the country’s… pic.twitter.com/X4F8VcL1RG

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) September 13, 2023

It’s unclear who Ashton-Cirillo referenced as the “puppet of Putin” in the video.

Ukraine Territorial Defense Forces officials said in a X-post on Wednesday that its command or the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not approve the comments made by Ashton-Cirillo.

“When conducting military operations against the aggressor, the defense forces of Ukraine strictly observe the norms of international humanitarian law,” the post said. “The command of the TDF will conduct an official investigation into the circumstances of these statements. Appropriate decisions would be taken. Sergeant Sarah Ashton-Cirillo will be suspended immediately pending the investigation.”

Ohio Senator JD Vance, a Republican, sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines on September 15, raising concerns over the conduct of Ashton-Cirillo.

“I worry American resources could be supporting violence or the threat of violence against people for speaking their mind,” Vance’s letter reads, in part. “Notably, any critic of America’s incoherent policy in Ukraine has been slandered as propagandists, including multiple presidential candidates and American journalists. While we can debate the merits of these accusations, engaging in protected speech should not invite threats of violence—otherwise, the First Amendment means nothing.”

Ashton-Cirillo originally traveled to Ukraine to write about the refugee crisis — before becoming a war correspondent in March and enlisting as a combat medic.

Last year, Las Vegas city officials and Nevada Democrats, including U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, Rep. Dina Titus, and former Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, gave recognition to the suspended spokesperson for working on the frontlines in Ukraine.

“The reasons I’m fighting along with every other soldier are the reasons that the people in the United States and elsewhere can enjoy the lives they have here,” Ashton-Cirillo told local media.

Members of Congress also reportedly asked the trans-identifying correspondent to give a military uniform to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.