Elon Musk’s brain chip company Neuralink demonstrated its first patient, Noland Arbaugh, using an implanted device to control a computer cursor to play chess online, in a nine-minute live demonstration on X. Arbaugh, who is paralysed below the shoulders due to a diving accident, received a microchip implant in January, on Thursday, the 21st of March, reports the British broadcaster BBC.
The company aims to connect the human brain to a computer to help solve complex neurological problems.
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— Neuralink (@neuralink) March 20, 2024
“The operation was very simple,” Arbaugh said during the demonstration, adding that he also used the brain implant to play the video game Civilization VI. Neuralink enabled him to play the game again and he played it for eight straight hours.
However, Arbaugh said the new technology is not perfect and “there have been some issues”.
The Neuralink device, which is about the size of a one-pound coin, is inserted into the skull with microscopic wires that can read neural activity and send back a wireless signal to a receiver.
The company has conducted tests on pigs and claims that monkeys can play a basic version of the videogame Pong. In May 2023, the company received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct human trials with the chip.
Neuralink is one of a growing number of companies and university departments seeking to develop and eventually commercialise this brain-computer interface (BCI) technology.
For example, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne enabled a paralysed patient to walk by implanting electronic devices in his brain and spine that allowed thoughts to be transmitted wirelessly to his legs and feet, thus facilitating movement.
This technology (BCI) is currently receiving many millions in research funding.
Also read: Elon Musk announces his company’s first successful human brain chip implant
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