On Wednesday, Elon Musk's Neuralink livestreamed new footage of how the brain implant works - showing a man with quadriplegia playing computer games with only his mind.
In a live broadcast for X on March 20, Musk's Neuralink footage shows how 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh - a patient with quadriplegia who was implanted with the Neuralink device - controls a computer cursor with his mind and uses it to play chess and Civilization VI.
"It's like using force on the cursor: I look somewhere on the screen, and it moves where I want it to," - Arbaugh said, adding:
"I can't even describe how fun it is."
"This is one of the first times you've given me full control over it. I didn't sleep until 6 a.m. playing Civilization VI," he said. - Arbaugh explained.
Eight years ago, Arbaugh suffered a serious spinal cord injury as a result of a "freak diving accident" that left him completely paralyzed below the shoulders.
Arbaugh said the surgery went well and he was discharged from the hospital just a day after the device was implanted on Sunday, January 28.
"It has already changed my life," Arbaugh said. "The operation was very easy."
Arbaugh noted that some parts of the technology still need to be improved, but implored other people with neurological problems to come forward and get involved in human research.
"I don't want people to think that this is the end of the journey, there is still a lot of work to be done," he said. "I would tell people who are thinking about applying for human research or thinking about finding a way to help with it to do their part."
The Neuralink brain implant is designed to help people with debilitating injuries or paralysis to interact with a phone or computer using thinking alone, Musk said in a Jan. 30 post to X, adding that Neuralink's first product is called Telepathy.
