Neuralink has successfully implanted its brain-computer interface (BCI) in a second patient, according to the startup’s founder, Elon Musk.
The device is designed to allow paralysed individuals, including those with spinal cord injuries to control digital devices through thought alone.
Currently undergoing testing, the device is said to have already helped the first patient to play video games, browse the internet, post on social media, and control a laptop cursor.
In a podcast, Musk revealed that the second patient, like the first, had a spinal cord injury and was paralysed in a diving accident.
Elon Musk said that 400 of the implant’s 1,024 electrodes are functioning in the brain of the second patient.
According to Neuralink, the implants’ electrodes are spread across 64 flexible leads, which are individually placed within the brain to record neural activity.
In May 2023, the startup secured US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the first-in-human clinical trial of the brain-computer interface.
Musk said: “I don’t want to jinx it but it seems to have gone extremely well with the second implant. There’s a lot of signal, a lot of electrodes.
“It’s working very well.”
The exact timing of the second patient’s surgery was not revealed. However, the company anticipates that itwill implant its device in eight additional patients within the year as part of ongoing clinical trials.
Noland Arbaugh received the first implant in January this year.
Arbaugh stated in the same podcast that the implant executes commands based on his thoughts in the mind, providing him with a degree of independence and reducing his reliance on caregivers.
Neuralink is said to have enhanced the implant’s ability to monitor Arbaugh’s brain signals by adjusting its algorithm to increase sensitivity.
Musk mentioned on the podcast that Arbaugh has surpassed his previous world record for cursor control speed, using only about 10-15% of the implant’s electrodes.
In August last year, the brain chip startup raised $280m in a funding round led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.
