Elon Musk’s Neuralink has performed its second implant on an unknown patient, with the tech tycoon revealing that he plans to implant eight more chips throughout the year.
Musk’s medical technology business intends to help people with spinal cord injuries, quadriplegia, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) by implanting chips that allow them to control digital equipment purely with their thoughts.
In January 2024, Neuralink implanted its first human patient, Nolad Arbaugh, who was paralyzed after a diving accident over ten years before.
Despite issues with his chip, which included 85% of its wires getting detached within weeks, Arbaugh was allegedly able to resume his favorite interests, such as gaming.
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Musk spoke with MIT research scientist Lex Fridman on his podcast and provided many updates on Neuralink’s future goals, including the status of its second implant.
“I don’t want to jinx it but it seems to have gone extremely well with the second implant,” the company’s president said.
“There’s a lot of signal and a lot of electrodes. It’s functioning quite well.”
Musk provided little specifics about the second patient, although the CEO stated that they have a similar spinal cord injury to Arbaugh’s.
Meanwhile, Arbaugh provided an update in May on his life after obtaining the Neuralink implant.
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He stated that the implant has helped him’reconnect with the world, my friends, and my family.’
“It has given me the ability to do things on my own again without needing my family at all hours of the day and night,” he told me.
Arbaugh has demonstrated the ability to control a computer cursor solely through thought and to play online games such as Civilization VI.
“Progress is good and the patient appears to have made a full recovery, with no ill effects that we are aware of,” Musk said in February, after Arbaugh received his implant, according to Reuters.
“Patient is able to move a mouse around the screen by just thinking.”
Musk also mentioned on Fridman’s podcast that Neuralink intends to administer eight additional chips this year as part of its ongoing human testing.
The chip is about the size of a quarter and has dozens of electrodes that are placed in the brain to pick up electrical signals from neurons, which are nerve cells that convey information throughout our bodies.
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