At the beginning of this year, the startup Neuralinkfounded by Elon Musk to develop a way to allow people to use their brains to control computers, managed to successfully implant a brain chip into a human patient: the American Noland Arbaugh30, quadriplegic since 2016.
In May, he had to remove the implant after 85% of the wires came loose from his brain, amid other problems with effectiveness and latency. However, during the months that Arbaugh had the chip, he was able to “use his mind” to move the computer mouse cursor, making it possible to browse the internet and play games with his mind.
The Neuralink chip was useful for Arbaugh because the American has not been able to move his body for eight years, when he had an accident while swimming in the lake with two friends and hit the left side of his head. Since then, he has been using a wheelchair, which is moved by a hydraulic system that he controls by blowing and sucking into a pipe. Today, he lives on his family’s ranch in Yuma, Arizona.
It was in December 2023 that Arbaugh heard about Neuralink for the first time, according to an interview with Bloomberg. His colleague from the Corps of Cadets got in touch to say that Elon Musk’s company was looking for the first human volunteer, after years of testing on primates and pigs. He filled out the form and, the next day, the company called to continue the process, which included a later in-person stage.
Arbaugh says he is a fan of Elon Musk and, for him, the South African businessman’s dedication gave him confidence for the surgery. “(His dedication) made me feel that he wouldn’t do anything that he thought would end badly,” he says in an interview with Bloomberg published on May 16.
Furthermore, the American says that his faith in God made him stop drinking and smoking, which helped him to be chosen among Neuralink’s candidates. Musk tried to meet the patient before the surgery, but was only able to make a video call.
At first, Neuralink employees stayed at the family ranch helping to calibrate the chip for brain patterns, but over time everything became easier. Noland was even able to talk while playing chess on the computer.
A month after the surgery, some problems started to appear. Less precision and a delay between thought and cursor movement were hindering navigation. Neuralink did not disclose the cause of the problem, but released a software update that brought the implant to normal performance.
Eve, the name given to the implant by Arbaugh, considering it a gift just as Eve would have been Adam’s gift, is now being trained to write the words the patient thinks of, but there is no forecast for this update to occur.
The agreement between Neuralink and Noland Arbaugh says that the use and sharing of data is for one year and then both will discuss whether to continue testing or remove the chip.
Neuralink shows brain chip patient playing chess with his mind
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