Elon Musk’s Neuralink shows first patient playing chess with his mind | Top Vip News

Elon Musk’s Neuralink Corp. livestreamed an update on its first brain implant patient on Wednesday, showing a quadriplegic man who could play video games and chess online using his mind.

Neuralink is a brain technology startup founded by Musk. His implant allows the patient to use his thoughts to control a computer. Musk has said the company will begin working with patients who have severe physical limitations, such as impaired cervical spinal cord or quadriplegia.

In Wednesday’s video, which aired on Musk’s X social platform, the patient, Noland Arbaugh, was able to use his computer to play chess and the game Civilization VI. “He had given up playing that game,” he said.

“It’s already changed my life,” Arbaugh said. “The surgery was super easy.”

Arbaugh, 29, said he suffered a spinal cord injury in a “freak diving accident” eight years ago. He also said that he was discharged from the hospital a day after the Neuralink procedure in January, which went uneventfully. He added that “there is still work to be done” to perfect the technology.

Neuralink is not the only company working on brain devices that connect to computers. Modern demonstrations of cursor control using thoughts have been carried out on other humans with various types of implants, such as those implemented by the BrainGate consortium of research institutions and hospitals.

However, the Neuralink device contains more electrodes than other devices, suggesting it may have more potential applications in the future. Neuralink technology works without the need for a wired connection to external devices.

In a post on X on Wednesday, Musk hinted that the device may have the ability to restore vision. “Blindsight is the next product after telepathy,” he wrote, referring to the name of the implant for paralyzed patients.

“I’m happy for the individual who has been able to interact with a computer in a way that they couldn’t before the implant,” said Kip Allan Ludwig, co-director of the Wisconsin Institute for Translational Neuroengineering. “This is not an advance compared to what others have previously shown, but it is certainly a good starting point.”

According to a Facebook page for Arbaugh, which has not been publicly updated since 2017, her accident took place at a children’s camp in June 2016. In 2017, she successfully raised $10,000 through a GoFundMe campaign to purchase an accessible van. custom made.