The first patient with a brain implant from Neuralink plays online chess

Neuralink, a company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, has for the first time demonstrated a patient with a chip implanted in his brain playing online chess.

Here's What We Know

Noland Arbaugh, 29, who was left paralysed below the shoulders after a diving accident, was playing chess on his laptop, controlling the cursor with thought alone, thanks to a device from Neuralink. He appeared in the video alongside Bliss Chapman, head of Neuralink's neural interface programme, and answered questions about how the technology worked, saying it required him to "imagine the cursor movement"

For the first time in history, a person with a brain implant from Neuralink was able to control a computer mouse just by thinking about it. This was made possible after Neuralink implanted the chip into a person's brain in January this year, gaining approval to recruit people for clinical trials in autumn 2023. The startup's founder, Ilon Musk, said the patient has fully recovered from the surgery and can now control a mouse cursor just by thinking about it. Neuralink's technology uses up to 1,024 microwires, 5 microns in diameter, which are "sewn" into the patient's grey matter to connect to neighbouring neurons. This allows for highly accurate monitoring of the brain's electrical activity and translating it into digital code.

Noland Arbo shared his experience with the new technology and said that the technology is still "not perfect" and there is still work to be done, but that it has "already changed his life". Noland also added that the Neuralink device was "intuitive" and his experience using it was "wild."

Flashback

Neuralink is an American neurotechnology company founded by Ilon Musk and a team of seven scientists and engineers in 2016. The company develops implantable brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) and is based in Fremont, California. Neuralink received approval to conduct clinical trials in the US in May 2023. The company's first product is called Telepathy and allows you to control your phone or computer with your mind. The first users will be people who have lost the ability to move their limbs.

Source: Neuralink