"Playing Games with Thoughts"... Musk's Second Brain Implant Experiment Shows Improvement

[Image source=Yonhap News]

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Neuralink, the neurotechnology startup founded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has successfully performed a second computer chip implantation in a human, showing improvements in clinical defects observed in the first patient.

On the 21st (local time), Neuralink announced that no abnormal phenomena seen in the first implant patient, Norland Arbo, were found in the second implant patient, ‘Alex.’

Previously, Neuralink reported in May that after several weeks post-surgery, some of the threads connected to the brain chip in Arbo contracted, significantly reducing the speed and accuracy of controlling the computer cursor with thoughts. In Alex’s case, no contraction of the threads connecting the chip to the brain was detected.

Neuralink explained that to prevent the contraction of some threads in the brain chip, the second implantation surgery minimized brain movement and reduced the gap between the chip and the brain surface. Additionally, in Alex’s case, the threads were inserted deeper into the motor cortex of the brain at 7 mm instead of the previous 3?4 mm, Neuralink added.

Through its blog, Neuralink revealed footage of Alex playing a first-person shooter video game and using design software solely by thinking.

Like Arbo, Alex is also a quadriplegic patient.

Alex is shown enjoying a shooting game just by thinking, in a video released by Neuralink.
[Image source=Neuralink blog]

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Neuralink has been developing technology to implant brain-computer interface (BCI) devices into the brain, enabling people who have lost the use of their limbs due to physical injury to control various digital devices. This is done by exchanging signals with nerve cells through fine thread-like electrodes.

The Neuralink chip uses 1,024 electrodes. It is known that about 400, or roughly 40%, are functioning in Alex. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, “Not all implanted electrodes can read neural signals,” and explained, “The more signals read, the more information the Neuralink device can decode, increasing the functions it can provide.”

Neuralink aims to recruit eight more people for brain chip implantation within this year. FDA approval is required to conduct the experiments.

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