Elon Musk’s Neuralink Corp. live streamed an update with its first brain implant patient on Wednesday, revealing a quadriplegic man who was able to play video games and online chess with his mind.
Musk founded Neuralink, a startup focused on brain technology. Its implant enables patients to use their thoughts to control a computer. Musk has stated that the company will begin by working with patients who have severe physical disabilities, such as cervical spinal cord impairment or quadriplegia.
In the video on Wednesday, which was streamed on Musk’s social platform X, the patient, Noland Arbaugh, was able to use his computer to play chess and the game Civilization VI. “I had given up on playing that game,” he said.
“It has already changed my life,” Arbaugh said. “The surgery was super easy.”
Watch: Neuralink patient playing chess with mind
Arbaugh, 29, claimed he suffered a spinal cord injury in a “freak diving accident” eight years prior. He also stated that he was released from the hospital one day after the Neuralink procedure in January, which went smoothly. He also mentioned that there was “still work to be done” to improve the technology.
Neuralink is not the only company developing brain devices that connect to computers. Modern demonstrations of cursor control using thoughts have been performed on other humans using various types of implants, including those used by the BrainGate consortium of research institutions and hospitals.
However, the Neuralink device has more electrodes than other devices, indicating that it may have more potential applications in the future. The Neuralink technology does not require a wired connection to external devices.
Musk hinted in a post on X on Wednesday that the device could be capable of restoring vision. “Blindsight is the next product after Telepathy,” he wrote, using the name of the implant for paralyzed patients.
“I’m happy for the individual that he’s been able to interface with a computer in a way he wasn’t able to before the implant,” said Kip Allan Ludwig, co-director of the Wisconsin Institute for Translational Neuroengineering. “That’s not a breakthrough compared to what others have shown previously, but it’s certainly a good starting point.”
According to Arbaugh’s Facebook page, which hasn’t been updated since 2017, the accident occurred at a children’s camp in June 2016. In 2017, he successfully raised $10,000 through a GoFundMe campaign to buy an accessible, custom-built van.
