Quadriplegic Neuralink brain chip patient plays virtual chess using 'telepathy'

21 March 2024 , 10:34

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Quadriplegic Neuralink brain chip patient plays virtual chess using 'telepathy'

The first ever human patient to be implanted with Elon Musk's brain implant can play chess "just by thinking", new video has shown.

The American company released a video showing 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh, a quadriplegic man, using a computer cursor to play chess online. Mr Arbaugh said he dislocated two of his vertebrae in a "freak diving accident" eight years ago, causing him to be paralysed from the neck down.

Billionaire owner of Neuralink Musk shared a Neuralink live stream on X, formerly , on Wednesday. It was captioned: "Livestream of @Neuralink demonstrating 'Telepathy' – controlling a computer and playing video games just by thinking."

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Noland Arbaugh (R) is the first person to get the Neuralink implant (neuralink/X)

Neuralink is one of many groups working on linking the nervous system to computers, efforts aimed at helping treat brain disorders, overcoming brain injuries and other applications. There are more than 40 brain-computer interface trials underway, according to clinicaltrials.gov.

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Neuralink’s device is about the size of a large coin and is designed to be implanted in the skull, with ultra-thin wires going directly into the brain. In its September announcement, Neuralink said the wires would be surgically placed in a region of the brain that controls movement intention.

The initial goal of the so-called brain-computer interface is to give people the ability to control a computer cursor or keyboard using their thoughts alone. In the Neuralink video, an engineer from the company introduces Mr Arbaugh as the "first-ever user of the Neuralink device."

The size of the Neuralink installed on the patient's brain (Neuralink)

Showing off his chess-playing ability, Mr Arbaugh said: "I love playing chess, so this is one of the things that ya'll have enabled me to do, something I wasn't able to really do much the last few years." He added: "That's all me... it's all brainpower."

For the young quadriplegic, the Neuralink has opened up a new world of ability including playing one of his favourite video games, Civilization VI. Now he can play without the help of a family member.

He said: "Now I can just lie in bed and play to my heart's content." He joked he now plans to dress up as Professor X from X-Men next Halloween, in reference to his newfound 'telekinesis'.

The video shows Mr Arbaugh's chess game (neuralink/X)

Laura Cabrera, who researches brain science at Pennsylvania State University, said that even though Neuralink uses an innovative procedure – robotic surgery – to get the device in the brain, no one has implanted it before in humans and much remains unknown. Brain surgery is “not a trivial thing,” she said, pointing to significant potential risks such as brain haemorrhage or seizures.

“And so I think we have to be mindful that even though they’re using a novel way to implant the device, we just don’t know if it’s truly going to be a … safer approach for human patients.”

Charlie Jones