Brain chip helps paralysed patient in playing chess with his thoughts

In a groundbreaking demonstration of brain chip technology, a paralysed patient played chess by controlling the computer with his thoughts.

Elon Musk-led brain chip startup ‘Neuralink’ unveiled a video of the first patient, Noland Arbaughchosen, as the first of six people to receive the chip implant after successful testing on animals.

In the video, Arbaugh explained that a tragic diving accident left him paraplegic. The accident dislocated vertebrae in his neck, which also restricted the movement of his arms.

Following the implantation of the Neuralink device in his brain, Noulan was discharged the next day with no reported cognitive issues. 

The 29-year-old enthusiastically recounted playing his favorite game, Civilization VI, for eight consecutive hours after the surgery.

The tester shared his experience of what it felt like to finally make the cursor move with his thoughts.

“It would just move to where I wanted it to, it was such a wild experience … it’s crazy, it’s crazy," he said.

While some experts have praised the innovation, a former program director for neural engineering at the US National Institutes of Health cautioned about the need for careful consideration during the early stages of adopting this technology.

"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 maximise the amount of information for control that can be achieved," Ludwig opined.

Neuralink utilises a robotic device to implant an electrode-laden chip directly onto the surface of the brain for super-fast data transfer from computers. 

The company's primary goal, as stated by Elon Musk, is to restore lost function in paralysed individuals. However, Musk also envisions future applications that could augment the capabilities of healthy people as well.