A paralyzed patient with a Neuralink chip has shown how to play chess on a computer "with the power of thought"

29-year-old Noland Arbo, who was partially paralyzed after a diving accident 8 years ago, became the first person to have a chip implanted in his brain by Neuralink.

It is about the "brain-computer" interface (in the Neuralink version, the product is called "Telepathy"), which effectively allows control of computer actions through the power of thought.

• The Telepathy device contains over 1000 electrodes (much more than other implants) and is aimed at individual neurons (many other developing devices are aimed at signals from groups of neurons), which should provide a higher degree of signal detection accuracy. The chip and electrodes are implanted in the patient's brain using a specially designed surgical robot, and wireless communication sends brain signals to the Neuralink program, which decodes them into actions and intentions. Device recharging is also done wirelessly.

In a live broadcast launched on X, Arbo, who said he used to enjoy playing chess, replicates the game on the computer, moving the cursor remotely - as if by the power of thoughts.

https://t.co/OMIeGGjYtG

— Neuralink (@neuralink) March 20, 2024

The patient also noted that the implantation surgery was "extremely easy," and afterwards he only had to learn to distinguish "imagined movement from attempted movement" in order to get used to controlling the cursor on screen. In addition to chess, Arbo played Civilization V - previously this was only possible using special mouth sticks.

The man added that the Neuralink implant can work for 8 hours before needing to be recharged.

"It doesn't work perfectly, and we've encountered some problems," Arbo said. "There's a lot of work ahead, but it has already changed my life."

Neuralink is a startup founded by Elon Musk in 2017, which is trying to create a "brain-computer" interface and help people with injuries control phones and PCs using the "power of thought". In 2019, Musk announced that Neuralink had implanted a chip in a monkey's head, which then "was able to control a computer". Since then, the company has regularly released videos showing monkeys supposedly playing video games or typing text "with the power of thought". The technology has also been tested on pigs.

The Neuralink technology is based on decades of research into implanting electrodes in the human brain to interpret signals and treat conditions such as paralysis, epilepsy, and Parkinson's disease. One of the early devices known as the Utah Array was first demonstrated on a human in 2004. Some Neuralink competitors, such as the startup Synchron, offer an alternative chip implantation method - through blood vessels.

Noland Arbo became the first person to receive a Neuralink implant after the company received permission for testing and in December announced the recruitment of patients. Previously, Neuralink had faced criticism from both animal rights activists and the Responsible Medicine Committee for how it tested its interface on animals. There were also questions about the transportation of potentially hazardous materials - the US Department of Transportation initiated an investigation and ultimately fined the company.

In Musk's biography, it was mentioned that Neuralink plans to operate on more than 20,000 people by 2030. In general, in all its announcements, the billionaire expresses quite ambitious goals, such as the implant eventually helping people "merge" with artificial intelligence.