Watch: Neuralink patient plays online chess using Elon Musk's brain-chip implant
The first Neuralink patient has shown some of the capabilities of the brain-chip implant
😲 Neuralink has released a video showing it’s brain-chip implant in action
♟️ The first patient to receive the chip can play online chess telepathically and control a mouse cursor
🥇 Nolan Arbaugh became the first person to get the implant
♿ He became a quadriplegic eight years ago after a diving accident
A video of the first Neuralink patient has been shared, showing how the brain-chip implant could have a transformative effect on people who have debilitating issues, such as those who are quadriplegic like 29-year-old Nolan Arbaugh.
Nolan lost his mobility eight years ago after a “freak diving accident” and received the chip implant in January. He is completely paralyzed from below the shoulders and has no sensation or movement.
In the nine-minute video below, Bliss Chapman, an engineer at Neuralink, shows how Nolan is now able to control a computer telepathically and can play online chess. Nolan also pauses the music track that’s playing in the background using his brain.
“The surgery was super easy,” according to Nolan, and has even allowed him to play Civilization VI again, one of his favorite video games. Nolan said he stayed up until 6am playing thanks to the Nerualink chip – “Y’all gave me the ability to do that again”.
Nolan also highlights how difficult it was to do certain tasks before the Neuralink implant, which often needed additional help from family members to achieve.
Neuralink received permission from the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) to begin human trials in May 2023. Previously, Neuralink had only tested its chip on pigs and monkeys, which were shown playing the video game Pong telepathically.
Despite the obvious risks, Nolan said he wanted to “help and be a part of something that I feel like is going to change the world. I want to thank Neuralink for doing this, for working hard every day to make this a reality.”
Neuralink’s engineer ended the video by saying the company plans to release more videos showing the chip in action in the coming days.
The brain-computer interface company is owned by Elon Musk, who previously said one day getting the chip implant will be like “replacing a piece of your skull with a smartwatch, for a lack of a better analogy”.
The South African billionaire has promised that he will get the chip implanted into his head sometime in the future.