Earlier this year in January, Elon Musk announced that his neurotechnology company Neuralink finally implanted its first N1 chip into the brain of a human patient. Musk later shared in February that the patient is making progress and can move a computer mouse only by thoughts. Now a video of the patient playing online chess using his mind has emerged.
A livestream video shared by Neuralink’s official X handle shows 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh playing chess on his laptop and moving the cursor only using the Neuralink device.
— Neuralink (@neuralink) March 20, 2024
In the video, Arbaugh explains that he was paralyzed below the shoulder after a diving accident. He received an implant from Neuralink in January of this year and was released from the hospital the day after the procedure.
"The surgery was super easy," Arbaugh said in the video, referring to the implant procedure. "I was literally released from the hospital a day later, and I have no cognitive impairments."
Elaborating on his experience, Arbaugh said:
“I don’t want people to think that this is the end of the journey. There’s a lot of work to be done, but it has already changed my life.”
Neuralink received approval to launch the first human clinical study from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May of last year.
The Neuralink N1 chip is surgically implanted into the patient"s skull, establishing connections to the brain through threads finer than human hair. These threads incorporate 1,024 electrodes capable of both sensing signals and activating millions of neurons within the brain simultaneously. The collected signals are then transmitted wirelessly for further processing and analysis.
The N1 Implant is sealed in a biocompatible enclosure that withstands physiological hazards several times harsher than those in the human body, according to the company.