Musk’s Neuralink reveals malfunction in human brain implant
Elon Musk’s brain-chip startup Neuralink says part of an implant in its first human patient has malfunctioned.
The company completed its first implant of a device that connected to the brain of Noland Arbaugh, a paraplegic who lost use of his arms and legs in a diving accident, in January.
Neuralink says the brain-computer interface will allow paralysed patients to control external technology using only their minds.
The “Link” device records neural activity through 1024 electrodes across 64 “threads” that are thinner than a human hair and capable of being placed separately in the brain, according to the company’s website.
In a progress update released 100 days after the surgery, Neuralink said some of the Link device’s “threads” had pulled away from the patient’s brain a few weeks after surgery, which had rendered the device less effective. It is unclear how many threads had retracted from the patient’s brain.
In response, the company said it had tweaked its algorithm and improved the techniques for translating brain signals into cursor movements.
Neuralink uses a metric known as bitsper-second (BPS) to measure Link’s speed, accuracy, and performance. The changes had produced a “rapid and sustained improvement” in BPS that had surpassed the patient’s initial performance, it said.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Neuralink had briefly considered removing the implant from Arbaugh completely.
Musk, whose other companies include the electric carmaker Tesla and the rocket designer SpaceX, is now hoping to implant the device into 10 patients by the end of the year, according to the Journal.
The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a post to his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, the tech billionaire wrote: “Successful 100 days with first human implant of @Neuralink.”
Neuralink released a video in March that showed Arbaugh moving a cursor with his mind and playing chess, and video games Mario Kart and Slay the Spire, on a computer.
He explained that the operation had allowed him to “do things on my own again without needing my family at all hours of the day and night”.
He described the device as like a “luxury overload”, adding: “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 was left paralysed after dislocating two vertebrae in a diving accident eight years ago.
Musk has said the technology will initially be intended for disabled patients, but that he eventually wants to market the brain chip to a mass audience.
The company is seeking more patients for its clinical trials, which will have to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration before it can be sold commercially._– The Times