Neuralink has livestreamed its first patient implanted with a chip using his mind to play online chess. Arbaugh in January became the first patient to receive the implant which seeks to enable people to control a computer using only their thoughts.

San Francisco

Neuralink, a startup led by Elon Musk, showcased its initial success in brain-computer interface technology by livestreaming an event where the first patient implanted with its brain chip played online chess using solely his thoughts. The patient, known as Arbaugh, received the Neuralink implant in January, marking a significant milestone for the company. The technology aims to provide individuals with the ability to control computer cursors or keyboards purely through cognitive processes, without any physical interaction.



Elon Musk's Neuralink shows first patient

Noland Arbaugh is playing this game of chess with his brain, using a chip implanted by Elon Musk's startup Neuralink. I'd like to introduce you to the first ever user of the Neuralink device. The company live-streamed the event on Wednesday. Arbaugh in January became the first patient to receive a Neuralink implant, which seeks to enable people to control a computer cursor or keyboard using only their thoughts. The 29-year-old was in a diving accident eight years ago that left him paralyzed from the shoulders down. Do you want to explain a little bit what's going on here? Yeah, so I love playing chess, and so this is one of the things that y'all have enabled me to do, something that I wasn't able to really do much the last few years, especially not like this. I had to use like a mouth stick and stuff, but now it's all being done with my brain. If y'all can see the cursor moving around the screen, that's all me, y'all. It's pretty cool, huh? Actually, can you pause the song just for the audio coming through? Yeah, absolutely. There we go. And that was also done with your brain? Yep. It's all brain power up there. Arbaugh said that while there was room for improvement with the new technology, it had already, quote, changed his life. Former program director for neural engineering at the U.S. National Institute of Health Kip Ludwig said what Neuralink showed was a, quote, good starting point, but not a, quote, breakthrough. Last month, Reuters reported that U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspectors found problems with record-keeping and quality controls for animal experiments at the firm. Those findings came less than a month after Neuralink said it was clear to test its brain implants in humans. The company did not respond then to questions about the FDA inspection.

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