Video footage of the first individual to utilize Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain chip implant—which allows users to play video games and move a computer cursor—has been made public.
In a video uploaded on X, 29-year-old paraplegic Noland Arbaugh is seen playing chess with his thoughts.
Using a wheelchair, he said, “Do you see that cursor on the screen?” I only have that to say. It’s just mental effort.
He can be seen grinning broadly in the video as he demonstrates how to move the mouse side to side.
He went so far as to compare it to using “The Force” in the Star Wars movies.
“I’m so freaking lucky to be a part of this,” Noland continued. “Every day it feels like we’re learning new stuff”
Noland suffered from a ‘freak driving accident’ that left him paralysed from the shoulders down eight years ago.
The 29-year-old used to play chess before his injury while working at a children’s camp in Texas in 2016.
He said: ‘This is one of the things that y’all have enabled me to do… I wasn’t really able to do much the last few years.’
For Halloween this year he plans to dress as Professor X, from X-Men, a paraplegic mutant who can move objects telepathically.
Nolan added: ‘I don’t want anyone to think that this is the end of the journey, there’s still a lot of work to be done.
‘But it has already changed my life, and I think that people who are thinking about applying for the human trials, or are thinking about finding some way to help out with this, to do your part.
‘That’s the reason I got into it, because I just wanted to help. I want to be a part of something that I feel is going to change the world.’
It is hoped Musk’s development will help revolutionise care for the disabled.
Musk announced a month ago that the chip had successfully been implanted in a person.
He said in a Spaces event on X: ‘Progress is good and the patient seems to have made a full recovery, with neural effects that we are aware of.’
He reposted the clip of Arbaugh using ‘telepathy’ on Wednesday, along with the caption: ‘Livestream of Neuralink demonstrating ‘Telepathy’ – controlling a computer and playing video games just by thinking.’
The Neuralink brain chip implant works by a robot placing the implant in a region of the brain that controls movement.
It involves an operation where the robot removes a small chunk of the skull and connecting the electrodes from the chip to certain areas of the brain.
The robot then stitches up any visible holes so that a tiny incision is the only visible scar left.
The whole procedure takes just 30 minutes, according to Mr Musk, and patients can return home the same day.
Neuralink has not been without its controversies though after it was found thousands of animals are tested on, with monkeys having holes drilled in their heads and filled with glue.
Monkeys also had parts of their limbs amputated and were put down after having diarrhea and vomiting.
Neuralink is responsible for the deaths of 1,500 animals, like sheep and pigs.
