Musk's Neuralink enables paralyzed patient to play chess using thoughts

Elon Musk's brain-chip startup, Neuralink, has achieved a groundbreaking milestone by live streaming its first patient using a chip to play online chess with his mind. Noland Arbaugh, who had been paralyzed below the shoulder due to a diving accident, showcased the capabilities of the Neuralink device. The video displayed Arbaugh effortlessly controlling the cursor on his laptop, solely using his thoughts through the implanted chip.

The 29-year-old had received an implant from the company in January and could control a computer mouse using his thoughts, Elon Musk said last month.

The livestream, hosted on Elon Musk's social media platform X (formerly Twitter), featured Arbaugh discussing the implant procedure, expressing his satisfaction with the ease of the surgery. He stated, "The surgery was super easy. I literally was released from the hospital a day later. I have no cognitive impairments."

Arbaugh went on to share his joy at regaining the ability to play the game Civilization VI, a pastime he had given up due to his condition. He expressed gratitude to Neuralink, stating, "You all (Neuralink) gave me the ability to do that again and played for 8 hours straight."

Although, Kip Ludwig, former program director for neural engineering at the US National Institutes of Health, said that what Neuralink showed was not a “breakthrough” because “it is still in the very early days post-implantation, and there is a lot of learning on both the Neuralink side and the subject's side to maximize the amount of information for control that can be achieved.”

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— Neuralink (@neuralink) March 20, 2024