Neuralink’s first attempt at implanting its chip (BCI) in a human being’s skull hit an unforeseen setback after the device started to detach from the patient’s brain, the company disclosed on Wednesday (8^th May 2024).The patient (Noland Arbaugh) underwent surgery in February to attach a Neuralink BCI to his brain, but the device’s functionality started to decline within the month post the implanting. Some of the device’s threads, which link the miniature computer to the brain, had started to retract. Neuralink did not reveal why the device partially retracted from Arbaugh’s brain, but stated in a blogpost that its engineers had restored functionality by refining the implant.

The reduced capabilities did not appear to put Arbaugh in danger, and he could still employ the implant to play a game of chess on a computer using his thoughts, according to the WSJ (Wall Street Journal), which first broke the news of the problem with the chip. The option of removing the implant was considered after the detachment came to light, WSJ reported.

Arbaugh’s implant ran into problems in late February, according to Neuralink’s blogpost, when an unrevealed number of the chip’s threads “retracted from the brain, resulting in a net decrease in the number of effective electrodes”. This lessened the device’s bits per second, which is basically a gauge of how well the implant could execute its tasks.

Neuralink, which tech magnate Elon Musk owns and which was valued at around $5bn last year, has attempted to position itself as a world leader in brain-chip technology by vigorously advertising the success of its first implant. But the harsh reality is that the device is still in its early stages. The company’s revelation puts more attention on the untested and complicated nature of the experimental procedure.

Neuralink conducted its first human implant only after it extensively experimented for years on animals including pigs,sheep and monkeys. Regulators have launched many investigations into the company’s activities at those animal testing labs.

Neuralink’sultimate ambition is to use implants to connect human brains to computers to help, for instance, paralyzed people to control computersor smartphones or blind people to regain sight. Just like existing brain-machine interfaces, the company’s implant would gather electrical signals sent out by the brain and interpret them as actions.Musk has previously stated that the company’s first product would be named Telepathy, adding that its early users will be people who have lost the use of their limbs.