NEURALINK: WHAT IS IT?
The brain-chip firm Neuralink was founded in 2016 by Elon Musk. It is a coin-sized gadget that is surgically inserted into the skull. It creates an interface between the brain and the computer (BCI) by inserting incredibly small cables into the brain.
On Wednesday, Elon Musk’s brain-chip business Neuralink live-streamed a video on X (formerly Twitter) showing a paralyzed patient playing online chess with just his thoughts.
According to Sky News, Noland Arbaugh, 29, who was paralyzed below the shoulder following a car accident in January, had an interface to his brain device placed.
The first-ever Neuralink user appears to be able to move the mouse across the screen, play chess, and turn off laptop music with just his thoughts in a nine-minute video.
The disc would use a common Bluetooth link to register brain activity and transfer it to a device, such as a smartphone.
The first patient to receive a brain chip from Neuralink looks to have completely recovered and can use their thoughts to control a computer mouse, according to the startup’s creator, Elon Musk, in February of this year.
“Progress is good, and the patient seems to have made a full recovery, with no ill effects that we are aware of,” Musk stated.
Musk stated, “The patient can move a mouse around the screen by just thinking,” during a Spaces event on the social media network X.
Musk added that Neuralink was now trying to get from the patient as many mouse button clicks as possible.
Last month, Musk said that Arbaugh could use his thoughts to control a mouse after receiving an implant from a startup.
The goal of this brain chip, according to Musk, is to enable those who have disabilities—like the late Stephen Hawking—to “communicate faster than an auctioneer.”
He claimed that it may be used to treat depression, schizophrenia, obesity, and autism.