Elon Musk’s first Neuralink brain chip patient encountered a problem after implant surgery, scientists reveals
ELON Musk’s controversial brain chip lab Neuralink has revealed their first ever patient experienced an issue after surgery.
Noland Arbaugh, 29, who is paralysed from the neck down, received the implant in January – despite shocking reports of monkeys dropping dead in previous trials.
The technology allows him to control things on a computer screen and play video games using his mind.
Neuralink has shared an update on Arbaugh’s progress a hundred days after the groundbreaking procedure was carried out.
I’m beating my friends in games that as a quadriplegic I should not be beating them in
Noland Arbaugh
In a blog post the company revealed that part of the chip malfunctioned shortly after being implanted.
Although the surgery went “extremely well” a number of threads retracted from Arbaugh’s brain.
This resulted in fewer effective electrodes which are essential for recording brain activity, affecting their ability to track the device’s speed and accuracy.
Neuralink’s website says the implant has 1,024 electrodes through 64 threads which are “key to minimize damage during implantation and beyond”.
The company hasn’t disclosed how many threads retracted nor why it happened.
Fortunately scientists were able to make some changes to counteract the effects.
But some data was lost as a result, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Sources told the paper that bosses considered removing the implant but assessed that it posed no risk to Arbaugh’s safety.
‘LUXURY OVERLOAD’
Arbaugh was left quadriplegic after a “freak diving accident” eight years ago that dislocated two of his vertebrae.
He said the tech has enabled him to “do things on my own again without needing my family at all hours of the day and night”.
He’s even able to beat friends at video games, with the ability to play chess, Mario Kart and Slay the Spire.
“Y’all are giving me too much, it’s like a luxury overload, I haven’t been able to do these things in eight years and now I don’t know where to even start allocating my attention,” Arbaugh explained.
“The games I can play now are leaps and bounds better than previous ones.
“I’m beating my friends in games that as a quadriplegic I should not be beating them in.”
NEURALINK CONTROVERSY
Experiments allegedly left 15 out of 23 monkeys dead.
In one instance, a monkey was found missing some fingers and toes, possibly caused by self-mutilation, legal papers claimed.
Another case revealed a female macaque monkey had electrodes implanted into its brain, which caused it to be overcome with vomiting, retching, and gasping.
An autopsy later showed the monkey suffered from a brain hemorrhage.
Bloody skin infections, monkeys collapsing, and other horrific side effects were also recorded in the results, according to court papers.
“No monkey has died as a result of a Neuralink implant. First, our early implants, to minimize risk to healthy monkeys, we chose terminal monkeys (sic) (close to death already),” Musk previously said on X.