Neuralink, the brain-computer interface company founded by Elon Musk, has announced that its second trial patient is successfully using design software and playing video games.
What Happened: In a blog post on Wednesday, Neuralink revealed that the second patient, known as “Alex,” has so far avoided the issue that nearly derailed the first patient’s implant.
“To reduce the probability of thread retraction in our second participant, we implemented a number of mitigations, including reducing brain motion during the surgery and reducing the gap between the implant and the surface of the brain,” the blog post stated.
Alex was an automotive technician. He wanted to learn how to design 3D objects using computer-aided design (CAD) software. He designed a custom mount for his Neuralink charger on the second day of using Link, said the company.
“I'm already super impressed with how this works,” stated Alex, adding, “Taking an idea, putting it as a design, and actually having a physical item as a finished product makes me feel like I'm building things again.”
Previously, Musk revealed that Neuralink plans to implant eight more people this year.
On Thursday, he also took to X, formerly Twitter, and said that if all goes as planned, there could be hundreds of people with Neuralink implants within a few years.
“If all goes well, there will be hundreds of people with Neuralinks within a few years, maybe tens of thousands within 5 years, millions within 10 years,” Musk posted.
Why It Matters: The first patient, Noland Arbaugh, experienced a decline in the performance of his Neuralink implant about a month after his January surgery. However, the company was able to restore Arbaugh’s capabilities after some tweaks to its algorithms.
Earlier, Musk has also outlined Neuralink’s ambitious goal saying the company intends to achieve 1,000 Neuralink chip implantations by 2026.
Experts suggest that Neuralink’s technology could have significant impacts, not only in medical fields, such as restoring movement in paralyzed patients but also in enhancing human abilities.
Neuralink is also encountering some competition in this field. In June, it was reported that neurotech startup Paradromics is gearing up to begin human trials of its brain implant.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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