Neuralink says patient used his thoughts to move cursor

Neuralink, Elon Musk’s brain technology company, has posted a video showing what the company says is the first patient to use its electronic brain implant in a clinical trial, saying he was able to move a cursor on a computer screen with his thoughts.

It would be another milestone for the company, which received approval last year from the United States Food and Drug Administration to conduct a trial of its electronic brain implant in people.

In the video, posted on Musk’s social media site X, the patient said his name was Noland Arbaugh, 29, and he had become paralysed from the shoulders down after a diving accident about eight years ago.

Arbaugh said he loved playing chess, and the video appeared to show him moving the cursor to play computer chess.

Neuralink’s device and rival brain technology products are designed to read brain activity to decipher what movement a person intends to make, and then run a command to execute that action.

Arbaugh said that initially, he practised attempting to move his hand until it became intuitive to imagine moving the cursor. “Basically, it was like using the Force on the cursor,” he said in the video, an apparent reference to Star Wars, adding that he had used the implant to play a video game as well.

The video of Arbaugh comes nearly three years after Neuralink posted a video showing a monkey playing Pong with its mind. The company has come under fire for its treatment of animals in developing its brain implant.

Neuralink hopes its device will transfer data from the brain to the computer faster than rival technologies. The company uses a robotic device to sew an electrode-laden computer chip into the surface of the brain.

Musk has said the initial application of the device is to help paralysed patients recover function, but he also envisions it one day enhancing the capabilities of healthy people. – Telegraph Group