Neuralink reveals the identity of the first patient with a chip implanted in his brain; see the video

In January this year, Elon Musk announced that Neuralink had completed the first chip implantation into the human brain. Yesterday (20), the company used its official profile.

The name of the first Neuralink brain implant patient is 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh. The man, a former athlete, lost his mobility from the neck down after a car accident while working as a camp counselor in 2016. Check out the video of Noland using the chip below:

https://t.co/OMIeGGjYtG

— Neuralink (@neuralink) March 20, 2024

Arbaugh had to adapt his life to living in a wheelchair, without feeling anything from his shoulders down. The family needed financial support to adapt to their new mobility situation.

One of the biggest challenges was purchasing a wheelchair accessible minibus. The family launched a crowdfunding campaign in June 2017 and raised more than $10,000 to purchase the vehicle. But Arbaugh’s routine still requires a lot of special equipment.

How was the Neuralink surgery?

Arbaugh says Neuralink’s surgical procedure takes only 30 minutes and is performed with the help of a robot. The equipment opened part of the skull, inserted the brain-computer interface (BCI) chip and closed the gap.

Using the device is like having “The Force”. Star warsexplains Arbaugh. He says he only needs to look somewhere on the screen to move the cursor to that location.

In the video released by Neuralink, Arbaugh demonstrated his “telekinetic” powers by interacting with the screen and playing chess without moving. He can move pieces across the board with remarkable agility.

In the long term, it is possible to enable people to walk again and use their arms normally by passing signals from the brain’s motor cortex through the damaged part of the spine.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 21, 2024

Arbaugh testifies that BCI chip allowed him to play Civilization VI, a famous real-time strategy game for eight hours. The only limitation was having to wait for the device to charge after gaming.

In response to Neuralink’s post, Elon Musk stated that the long-term plan is to enable paralyzed people to walk normally and use their arms again through the chip.