Elon Musk’s brain implant startup, Neuralink, is seeking a second human trial participant to test its device. This comes five months after the company implanted a brain chip into its first human trial participant, Noland Arbaugh, a 30-year-old quadriplegic. However, an unexpected issue arose with Arbaugh’s implant. The threads connecting the chip to Arbaugh’s brain had retracted, causing performance issues. Despite this, Neuralink made adjustments to improve its function, and Arbaugh reported that the implant, which allows him to control a computer cursor with his brain, has changed his life.
Neuralink is now inviting more people like Arbaugh to test its brain chip. The company’s ambition is to use implants to connect human brains to computers to help paralyzed people control smartphones or computers or blind people regain sight. The current trial participants will be part of what Neuralink is calling its PRIME Study, short for Precise Robotically Implanted Brain-Computer Interface. The intent is to study the safety of its implant and surgical robot and to test the functionality of its device.
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