The startup neurotechnology company Neuralink has successfully implanted a second paralyzed patient with the company's brain chip device, according to the company's founder Elon Musk.
The billionaire announced on a recent podcast with computer scientist Lex Fridman that the operation went "extremely well" and that the patient who received it had a spinal cord injury similar to the first person who got the implant earlier this year. According to Musk, the brain chip is designed to help people who are paralyzed use digital devices simply by thinking.
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"I don't want to jinx it but it seems to have gone extremely well with the second implant," Musk told Fridman. "So, there's a lot of signal, a lot of electrodes. It's working very well."
Musk added that the company is hoping to test the brain implant on eight additional patients by the end of this year.
"It depends somewhat on the regulatory approval, the rate at which we get regulatory approvals," he said. "We're hoping to do 10 by the end of this year — a total of 10 — so eight more."
In March, Neuralink posted a video on social media introducing 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh as the "first telekinetic" human with the company's implanted brain–computer interface. Arbaugh explains that he is a quadriplegic who was paralyzed from the shoulders down in a "freak diving accident" about eight years ago, but is now able to control a computer cursor — and play digital chess — just by using his mind.
— Neuralink (@neuralink) March 20, 2024
Musk, who founded Neuralink in 2016, shared the video of Arbaugh on his social media site X saying he demonstrated "telepathy." According to Neuralink's website, the company's mission statement is to "create a generalized brain interface to restore autonomy to those with unmet medical needs today and unlock human potential tomorrow."
Neuralink was granted FDA approval for a human study on brain implants back in May 2023. The company's claim that its brain-implanted device can provide telekinetic capabilities for humans has not been independently verified.