Billionaire Elon Musk’s brain-chip startup Neuralink live-streamed its first ever patient to receive the chip playing an online game.
The video was posted on Elon Musk’s X account on March 21, 2024, featuring the patient named Noland Arbaugh who suffered paralysis below the shoulder after a diving accident.
“Livestream of Neuralink demonstrating “Telepathy” – controlling a computer and playing video games just by thinking,” said Musk.
In the video, the 29-year-old patient was seen playing chess on his laptop and moving the cursor across a laptop screen using the Neuralink device with nothing but his thoughts.
Additionally, the nine-minute video released by Neuralink showed the patient turning off the laptop’s music at some point.
On his part, the patient featured in the livestream said that the surgery and the implant procedure was easy.
“I literally was released from the hospital a day later. I have no cognitive impairments. Had basically given up playing that game,” he said.
However, he acknowledged that the interface was not perfect, saying that they ran into some issues during the procedure.
While saying that the chip had already changed his life, he pointed out that there’s a lot of work still to be done.
“I feel like it’s going to change the world,” added Arbaugh.
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The 29-year-old went on to thank the Neuralink team for the implant which according to him gave him the ability to play for eight straight hours.
Musk announces first Neuralink implant
The video was released after the patient received an implant from the company in January, with Musk saying that he was recovering well.
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“The first human received an implant from Neuralink yesterday and is recovering well. Initial results show promising neuron spike detection,” Elon posted on January 30.
However, according to a former US National Institutes of Health program director for neural engineering, what Neuralink showed was not a “breakthrough” just yet.
“It is still in the very early days post-implantation, and there is a lot of learning on both the Neuralink side and the subject’s side to maximize the amount of information for control that can be achieved,” said Kip Ludwig.
Ludwig, however, acknowledged that it was a positive development for the patient who had managed to interface with a computer in a way he could not before the implant.
Neuralink is among several brain-computer interface devices being developed with hopes that they will someday treat neurological disorders.
Controversy
However, Neuralink has faced calls for scrutiny regarding its safety protocols with reports indicating that the company was fined for violating U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) rules regarding the movement of hazardous materials.
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According to Reuters, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspectors found problems with quality controls and record keeping for animal experiments at the company.
This was less than a month after the startup said it was cleared to test its brain implants in humans, with the company failing to respond to questions about the FDA’s inspection at the time.
According to experts, it could still take over a decade to secure commercial clearance even if the Brain Computer Interface (BCI) device proves its safety and efficacy for human use.
Elon Musk, on his part, insists that if the technology functions properly, patients with severe degenerative diseases like ALS could someday use the implant to communicate or access social media by moving cursors and typing with their minds.
