The first humans to have a Neuralink computer chip surgically implanted in their brains demonstrated how they could use their thoughts to move a computer cursor across a screen to play online chess or turn music streams on and off. .
Noland Arbaugh, a 29-year-old man who is paralyzed from the shoulders down after a diving accident eight years ago, participated in the X livestream with Neuralink engineers and explained how the brain-computer interface technology works. showed the public what to do.
“Everything is happening in my brain. If you see the cursor moving on the screen, it’s all me,” he says, as a live stream shows the cursor moving over an online chess game. While there, he said, “Pretty cool, huh?”
The chip contains 1,000 electrodes programmed to collect data about the brain’s neural activity and motor intentions and send that data to a Neuralink computer to decode and turn thoughts into actions. .
Arbaugh explained that all you have to do is imagine the cursor going where you want it to go, and it will actually do that.
“Basically, it was like using the Force on the cursor, and I could move the cursor anywhere I wanted. I could just stare anywhere on the screen and the screen would move to where I wanted it to be. “The first time it happened, it was a wild experience,” he said, referring to “Star Wars.”
The quadriplegic became the first human test subject for a chip developed by Elon Musk’s company when a robotic surgeon inserted an implant into his brain in late January.
He said the surgery was “very easy” and he was discharged from hospital the next day with no cognitive impairment afterwards.
“It’s crazy, it really is. Wow. I’m really lucky to be a part of this,” he said. “It seems like every day we learn something new, and I can’t express how amazing it is to be able to do this.”
Before receiving the chips, Arbaugh needed help from others to play online chess and video games like “Civilization VI.”
“Now I can literally lie in bed and play to my heart’s content,” he said — at least until the rechargeable chip’s battery dies.
A short 9-minute video stream posted to Neuralink’s X account is the closest the humantech startup has ever seen to the public. The company, founded in 2016, has kept information about its technology and human testing largely secret, prompting calls for greater transparency.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last year gave the company the green light to test its brain chip on humans after it conducted hundreds of animal tests, but faced pushback from animal rights groups in the process.
Neuralink did not say how many people would enroll in the six-year trial or where the trial would be held. Nor has the study been registered on the government’s website, which records medical trials involving human subjects. According to Wired.
Arbaugh said he signed on to try the implant because he “wanted to be a part of something that I felt would change the world.”
But he acknowledged that becoming the first human to have a chip implanted in the brain had its challenges, but declined to elaborate.
“It’s not perfect. I can tell you we ran into some issues,” he told those watching the livestream. “I don’t want people to think this is the end of the journey. There’s a lot of work to do. But it’s already changed my life.”
