Neuralink’s brain chip has already allowed a patient to play chess with the power of thought. Now, the same man used the device to play video games. More precisely, Mario Kart, from Nintendo.
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Playing video games with the power of thought
The video was published on Nolan Arbaugh’s profile on the social network X (formerly Twitter). The patient appears sitting in front of the TV, next to his father, while controlling the character in the game, without his hands and with the strength of his mind, according to Elon Musk’s startup.
Neuralink did not inform how the test was carried out or how it was possible to configure the implant to control the video game. In total, the video is almost 1 hour long and is part of a company presentation in which Bliss Chapman, software leader for the startup’s brain interface and one of those responsible for the implant, talks to Arbaugh about her experience with the device.
Neuralink also released new information about using the brain implant for 12 sessions, lasting eight hours a day and five days a week. During this period, according to the company, Arbaugh was able to make approximately 111 thousand clicks of the left mouse button and move the cursor 16.3 kilometers.
The patient is 29 years old and became quadriplegic after suffering an accident in 2018 that paralyzed him from the shoulders down. He recently appeared in a video playing chess and said he played Civilization VI for hours at a time, using only the brain implant.
The device is capable of detecting brain signals and converting them into Bluetooth-based remote commands that can be used to interface with an electronic device, according to Neuralink. The information is from Estadão.
Video below shows patient playing Mario Kart at minutes 18:07 and 20:35:
Neuralink brain chip worries scientists
- The Neuralink chip’s ability to allow humans to control the movement of objects with their minds has caused controversy around the world.
- Despite being excited about the news, scientists have also expressed concern about the device.
- In an interview with Nature magazine, experts questioned the transparency of Musk’s company regarding the experiment.
- The human brain chip test trial was not registered in the ClinicalTrials.gov repository, which is curated by the US National Institutes of Health, for example.
- The repository serves as a technical reference for many entities.
- Neuroengineer from the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom, Tim Denyson, highlights that there is no information, for example, on where the company is carrying out the implementations and what results will be evaluated.
