Elon Musk’s Neuralink recently implanted its brain chip in its first-ever human volunteer.
Roughly a month after the implantation, the brain interface company provided an update, saying that the human candidate is able to move a computer mouse on a screen by just thinking about it. Now, the company has released new nine-minute-long footage showing the candidate playing chess with his mind.
— Neuralink (@neuralink) March 20, 2024
The candidate is identified as 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh, who is paralysed from the shoulders down due to a diving accident eight years ago.
“I love playing chess, and so this is one of the things that y’all have enabled me to do. Something that I wasn’t able to really do much the last few years, especially not like this,” said Arbaugh. in the video.
According to Arbaugh, he’s able to stare at spots on the screen and essentially command the cursor to go to that location. Arbaugh has also used the tech to play Civilization VI, and to learn Japanese and French.
Arbaugh concluded by acknowledging that the technology isn’t yet perfect, and he has ran into some issues too. “I don’t want people to think that it is the end of the journey. There is a lot of work to be done.” However, he also added that the technology has “already changed my life, and I think that people who are thinking about applying for the human trials…to do your part.”
Check out the full video embedded above or here.
According to prior comments from Musk, given enough time, the technology would be able to restore vision, movement, and other functions that are impaired by neurological conditions.
Image credit: Shutterstock
Source: Neuralink
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