Noland Arbaugh, quadriplegic, is the first human to receive a Neuralink implant after several controversial animal tests. Since then, the 29-year-old has been able, among other things, to play Civilization VI And Mario Kart 8 but as reported Reutersits chip suffered a problem known to the company led by Elon Musk and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The patient does not regret anything about this trial
The problem comes from the retraction of the small wires of the chip, as fine as hairs, which cause malfunctions and can damage brain tissue. At the microphone of Bloomberg, Noland Arbaugh shares the effects of this problem. At first, the young man felt “loss of cursor control”. Initially thinking that it was a change following modifications to the implant, Neuralink then informed him of the problem.
This obviously caused concern for the patient who specified that the news was ”difficult to digest” and he even cried. The young man particularly feared that the experiment was coming to an end.
Despite these disadvantages, Noland Arbaugh regrets nothing and specifies that”once you have acquired a taste for [utiliser l’implant]it’s impossible to stop”. The young man hopes to receive the next version of the chip as he continues to collaborate with Neuralink researchers.
FDA authorizes implantation of a second human
As reported by Wall Street Journal, Monday May 20, the FDA authorized Neuralink to implant the chip in a second person after proposing solutions to the wire retraction problem. To do this, the company would consider housing some of them deeper in the brain according to a source close to the matter.