” Elon Musk’s Neuralink Brain Chip allows patient to play games online ” | GNN INFO
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Elon Musk’s recently launched, Neuralink – brain-chip startup, showed its first patient being able to play online chess and video games using only his thoughts, using a brain chip developed by Neuralink.
A widely circulated video on social media showing the patient, identified as 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh, who had been paralyzed below the shoulders due to a diving accident.
— Neuralink (@neuralink) March 20, 2024
Neuralink, founded by Elon Musk, focuses on brain technology, with its implant enabling patients to control computers through their thoughts.
Neuralink’s Future Plans
Musk had previously indicated that the company would initially work with patients facing severe physical limitations, such as cervical spinal cord injuries or quadriplegia.
The video that was live-streamed on Musk’s social platform X – formerly Twitter – Arbaugh demonstrated his newfound ability to play chess and the game Civilization VI on a computer.
He expressed his joy, mentioning that he had given up hope of playing such games prior to the procedure.
The patient described the surgery as straightforward and expressed optimism about the technology’s potential, despite acknowledging the need for further refinement.
“It has already changed my life,” Arbaugh said. “The surgery was super easy.”
Arbaugh recounted sustaining a spinal cord injury in a diving accident eight years ago and noted his swift recovery post-Neuralink procedure in January.
How Neuralink Device Works
The Neuralink device contains more electrodes than other devices and may have more potential applications in future and this technology works without needing a wired connection to external devices.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Musk stated that the device may have the capability 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 that he’s been able to interface with a computer in a way he wasn’t able to before the implant,” said Kip Allan Ludwig, co-director of the Wisconsin Institute for Translational Neuroengineering.
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