The primary human to have a Neuralink computer chip surgically implanted in his brain demonstrated how he uses his thoughts to maneuver a pc cursor around a screen to play online chess and toggle on and off a music stream.
Noland Arbaugh, a 29-year-old man who’s paralyzed from the shoulders down because of a diving accident eight years ago, joined a live stream alongside a Neuralink engineer on X to point out the general public how the brain-computer interface tech works.
“It’s all being done with my brain. If y’all can see the cursor moving across the screen, that’s all me, y’all,” he said while the live stream showed his cursor moving across a web-based chess game. “It’s pretty cool, huh?”
Noland Arbaugh, 29, is the primary person to have the Neuralink computer chip implanted in his brain. CaringBridge
The chip accommodates 1,000 electrodes programmed to assemble data concerning the brain’s neural activity and movement intention after which send that data to a Neuralink computer for decoding to remodel the thoughts into motion.
Arbaugh explained that he simply imagines the cursor moving where he wants it to go and it does.
“Mainly, it was like using the Force on the cursor and I could get it to maneuver wherever I wanted. Just stare somewhere on the screen and it will move where I wanted it to, which was such a wild experience the primary time it happened,” he said, referencing “Star Wars.”
Arbaugh, who’s a quadriplegic, can now move a pc cursor around with just his thoughts. Neuralink
The quadriplegic became the primary human test subject of the chip developed by the Elon Musk-owned company when a robot surgeon plugged the implant into his brain at the top of January.
He said the surgery was “super easy” and he was released from the hospital a day later with no cognitive impairments since.
“It’s crazy, it truly is. It’s so cool. I’m so friggen lucky to be a component of this,” he said. “Every single day it looks like we’re learning recent stuff and I just can’t describe how cool it’s to give you the chance to do that.”
Arbaugh said the chip technology is a piece in progress but has already modified his life. Neuralink
Before receiving the chip, Arbaugh would want one other person’s help to play online chess and video games like “Civilization VI.”
“Now I can literally just lie in bed and play to my heart’s content,” he said — not less than until the battery of his rechargeable chip dies.
The temporary 9-minute video stream posted on Neuralink’s X account is the closest look the human tech startup has shared with the general public. The corporate, founded in 2016, has mostly kept details about its technology and human trials under wraps — prompting calls for greater transparency.
Sustain with today’s most vital news
Not sleep on the very latest with Evening Update.
Thanks for signing up!
The US Food and Drug Administration greenlit human trials of the brain chip last yr after the corporate did tons of of tests on animals — and faced backlash from animal rights groups in the method.
Neuralink has not disclosed how many individuals can be enrolled within the six-year trial or where the trials can be held. It also has not registered its study on a government website logging medical trials involving human test subjects, in accordance with Wired.
The Neuralink chip was approved for human trials by the FDA last yr. Neuralink/AFP via Getty Images
For his part, Arbaugh said he signed on to try the implant because he “desired to be a component of something that I feel prefer it’s going to alter the world.”
But he admitted being the first-ever human to get the chip implanted in his brain has not come without its challenges, without elaborating.
“It’s not perfect. I’d say that we have now run into some issues,” he told those watching the livestream. “I don’t want people to think that that is the top of the journey. There’s lots of work to be done. However it has already modified my life.”
