Elon Musk’s Neuralink recently showcased a demonstration through livestream on X platform. Noland Arbaugh, a patient who was paralyzed below the shoulders due to a diving accident, played chess online by just using his brain.
Arbaugh has been planted with chip from Neuralink amid an ambitious goal of the company to connect human brains to computers. The focus is mainly to address complex neurological conditions. During the presentation, Arbaugh expressed the surgery was super easy. He also shared his experience using the brain implant to play the video game Civilization VI for eight hours straight.
However, he acknowledged that the technology as a whole comes with challenges and witnessed some issues.
Neuralink’s device is a small chip and size of a one-pound coin. It has been surgically inserted into the skull of Arbaugh. It contains microscopic wires that can read brain neuron activity and also transmit a wireless signal to a receiving unit. Prior to human trial, it was conducted in pigs and reported success with monkeys playing a basic version of the video game Pong.
Neuralink obtained permission from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May 2023 to test the chip on humans.
The human brain contains around 86 billion neurons and the nerve cells are connected by synapses. Neuralink’s chip mainly is to focus in detecting electrical impulses which are generated by neurons. It thereafter allows individuals to interact with computers and devices using only their thoughts.
