Elon Musk’s company Neuralink is looking for a second volunteer for its brain implant, Telepathy, which is designed to allow users to control their phones and computers with their thoughts. Neuralink, a brain-computer interface (BCI) company, recently completed its first human trial and is now seeking another participant for this groundbreaking technology.
Neuralink Seeks Second Participant
The first person to receive Neuralink’s brain chip implant was 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh. Following a tragic diving accident eight years ago, Arbaugh was left paralyzed from the neck down. With Neuralink’s Telepathy implant, he has been able to use his computer, stream live on X (formerly Twitter), and play games like Mario Kart and Civilization VI.
Neuralink shared a video on its official X account where Arbaugh discussed his motivations for participating in the trial and how the implant aims to help quadriplegic patients.
However, the first human trial was not without its challenges. Neuralink revealed last week that some of the tiny threads used by the device to interface with the brain, each thinner than a human hair, had shifted from their original position a few weeks after surgery. This issue reduced the implant’s effectiveness, but Neuralink managed to address these problems with minor adjustments.
Neuralink plans to perform surgeries on 11 individuals this year and aims to reach over 22,000 users by 2030. Arbaugh mentioned that the surgery was painless and straightforward, although adapting to the device took some time. It has been 100 days since his surgery, and he continues to use the BCI system for about eight hours on weekdays and up to 10 hours on weekends.
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