Quadriplegic patient Noland Arbaugh plays video games and chess solely with his mind using Neuralink brain implant, displaying the advancement in bci technology.

Neuralink CEO Elon Musk has reacted to a live stream of Noland Arbaugh (a quadriplegic man, who is Neuralink’s first brain implant patient), playing video games and online chess employing only his mind. Earlier this year, without disclosing many details, Musk publicised that Neuralink had implanted its brain chip in first human post approval from the US FDA.

In the video shared on Neuralink’s official X profile, the brain implant recipient, Noland Arbaugh looked capable of using his mind to play chess and game Civilization VI in the computer placed in front of him. While playing Civilization VI the 29 year old stated, “I had given up on playing that game”. Detailing his injury, Noland stated in the video, “About 8 years ago I was in a kind of freak diving accident and dislocated my C4 and C5 so I am a complete quadriplegic. I am paralyzed from below my shoulders. I have no sensation or movement below my shoulders.”

“Basically, it was like using ‘the Force’ on the cursor, and I could get it to move wherever I wanted. Just stare somewhere on the screen and it would move where I wanted it to, which was such a wild experience the first time it happened,” Arbaugh stated, referring to the superpowers the Jedi in the Star Wars films possessed.

Sharing facts about the live stream of Arbaugh playing games, Musk wrote, “Livestream of @Neuralink demonstrating “Telepathy” – controlling a computer and playing video games just by thinking.” Meanwhile, Kip Allan Ludwig (co-director of the Wisconsin Institute for Translational Neuroengineering), also shared his opinion about the development in an interaction with Bloomberg. He stated, “I’m happy for the individual that he’s been able to interface with a computer in a way he wasn’t able to before the implant…That’s not a breakthrough compared to what others have shown previously, but it’s certainly a good starting point.”

What is Neuralink? How is it unlike its competitors?

Neuralink is a prominent brain technology startup founded by Elon Musk that is attempting to develop a brain chip implant that can enable patients to use their thoughts to control a computer, reports Bloomberg. The billionaire tech magnate has previously claimed that Neuralink’s device, just about the size of a large coin, is intended to be implanted in the skull, connected directly to the brain using ultra-thin wires. The company intends to target the area of the brain that controls movement intention, letting people to control computers using their thoughts only.

The Bloomberg report informs that while Neuralink is not the solitary company focusing on brain devices that connect to a computer, its devices contain considerably more electrodes than the others, meaning it could have far more potential applications in the future.