(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) Nolan Arbaugh, a 29-year-old quadriplegic, has successfully used a Neuralink brain implant to play chess and other video games on the computer, PC Mag reported.
Arbaugh, who lost the ability to use his limbs after a “freak diving accident” about eight years ago, agreed to have the brain chip implanted back in January. He has been able to use it to control a mouse on his keyboard.
“So I’m paralyzed from below the shoulders,” he explained. “I have no sensation or movement below my injury.”
Neuralink posted a video to Twitter showing Arbaugh talking about the success of the product.
According to the report, the brain-chip surgery went off without any hitches for Arbaugh, though it did require a day in the hospital.
While things on the whole have gone well, “we have run into some issues,” he said.
“I don’t want people to think this is the end of the journey,” he added, nothing that “there’s still a lot of work to be done, but it has already changed my life.”
As far as his actual abilities with manipulating computers, he can simply move the cursor on the screen by “imagining the cursor moving,” comparing it to “the Force” from Star Wars.
In light of the news, Elon Musk suggested that it may not be unreasonable to someday expect the technology to allow quadriplegics and others who have been paralyzed to regain their ability to use their limbs properly.
Long-term, it is possible to shunt the signals from the brain motor cortex past the damaged part of the spine to enable people to walk again and use their arms normally
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 21, 2024
Musk’s company initially announced the procedure in January 2024, noting at the time that the subject should be able to “operate a computer or smartphone by simply intending to move” with “no wires or physical movement are required.”
According to Arbaugh, the Neuralink technology has succeeded in that aim, allowing him to relax in a way that was previously impossible for him.
“Now I can just literally lie in my bed, and play to my heart’s content,” he concluded
