Neuralink, Elon Musk's brain-chip venture, has unveiled its initial success with a patient using an implanted device to maneuver a computer cursor.

During a nine-minute live broadcast on X, previously known as Twitter, Noland Arbaugh demonstrated his ability to control the cursor, engaging in online chess. Mr. Arbaugh, paralyzed from the shoulders down following a diving accident, received the chip implant in January.

The primary objective of Neuralink is to establish connections between human brains and computers to address intricate neurological conditions. "The surgery was remarkably straightforward," remarked Mr. Arbaugh during the demonstration.

Additionally, Mr. Arbaugh shared that he utilized the brain implant to play the video game Civilization VI, expressing gratitude for regaining that ability and even playing continuously for eight hours. However, he acknowledged some imperfections in the new technology, stating they have encountered challenges.

Neuralink's device, comparable in size to a one-pound coin, is surgically inserted into the skull. It features microscopic wires capable of monitoring neuron activity and transmitting wireless signals to a receiver unit.

The company has also run trials in pigs and claimed that monkeys can play a basic version of the video game Pong.
Neuralink was given permission to test the chip on humans by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May 2023.
Neuralink is one of a growing number of companies and university departments attempting to refine and ultimately commercialise this technology.

For example, the École Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne in Switzerland has successfully enabled Gert-Jan Oskam, who is paralysed, to walk just by thinking about the movements involved.

Details of the breakthrough were published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature last year.
The human brain is home to around 86 billion neurons, nerve cells connected to one another by synapses.

Every time we want to move, feel or think, a tiny electrical impulse is generated and sent incredibly quickly from one neuron to another.
Scientists have developed devices which can detect some of those signals - either using a non-invasive cap placed on the head or wires implanted into the brain itself.

The technology - known as a brain-computer interface (BCI) - is where many millions of dollars of research funding appears to be heading at the moment.
That was achieved by putting electronic implants on Mr Oskam's brain and spine, which wirelessly communicate thoughts to his legs and feet.

Well done.

This is mind blowing