Earlier this year, Elon Musk revealed that Neuralink had successfully implanted the first brain chip inside a human. Now, the neurotechnology company has released a short demonstration showcasing the functionality of the brain-computer interface (BCI).
The company live-streamed a demo on X (formerly known as Twitter) with a 29-year-old guy named Nolan Arbaugh–”first-ever user of Neuralink device”. He said he is paralysed below the shoulder because of a diving accident.
Also read: Neuralink’s first human trial patient able to control cursor with brain
In the video, Arbaugh said that the surgery was “super easy” and he was released from the hospital a day later.
Also read: Neuralink all set for human trials in 6 months, according to CEO Elon Musk
After getting the implant, he had to learn how to differentiate “imagined movement versus attempted movement” to learn to control a cursor on a screen.
“A lot of what we started out with was attempting to move,” Arbaugh said. “I would attempt to move, say, my right hand, left right, forward, back. And from there, I think it just became intuitive for me to start imagining the cursor moving.”
In the video, we can see that Arbaugh is playing chess on a laptop using just his thoughts.
He mentioned that the implant lets him play chess and Civilization VI. Before this, he used things like mouthsticks for help, but the Neuralink implant is better. Now he can play games for longer.
He said it lasts about eight hours before needing to recharge, although it’s not clear how charging works.
Commenting on the video, Elon Musk said that in the “Long-term”, it will be possible to “shunt the signals from the brain motor cortex past the damaged part of the spine to enable people to walk again and use their arms normally.”
