Neuralink considered removing human brain chip after device malfunctions | Technology

A Neuralink, Elon Musk’s startup, revealed that its test brain implant, installed in the brain of 29-year-old patient Noland Arbaugh, failed. According to a post on the company’s blog, some wires from the device detached from the patient’s brain weeks after the installation surgery, which would have made the implant less effective.

The company said it has since made adjustments which in turn “produced rapid and sustained improvement.” However, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing unidentified sources, Neuralink would have considered completely removing the patient’s implant.

+ Want to know more about innovation? Join the Época NEGÓCIOS group on WhatsApp

O device allows the patient to move a computer cursor using their thoughts. A previous blog post said the process involved more than 1,000 electrodes in the device and at least 64 wires, each thinner than a human hair.

The chip measures the speed and precision cursor control link using a metric called bits per second (BPS). The blog post reports that a higher BPS score meant a control stronger of the cursor.

Neuralink, one of the billionaire’s companies Elon Muskannounced in a live broadcast on X in March that 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh, who was paralyzed below the shoulders after a 2016 diving accident, was the first person to receive their implant in January.

In February, Musk said in an X Spaces session that “progress is good” and that “the patient appears to have fully recovered.”

The WSJ reported that Neuralink planned to deploy 10 devices in other human patients by the end of this year.

In a meeting at Neuralink, Business Insider reports, Arbaugh said it took five months from signing up to participate in the human testing from Neuralink to brain surgery, which took less than two hours. Since it was deployed, he has used it to play video games including “Mario Kart,” post on social media and play chess.

Do you want to check out exclusive content from Época NEGÓCIOS? Get access to the digital version.