WATCHING: The first person to receive a Neuralink implant is speaking out
Neuralink plans to implant two new study participants with the company’s brain computer interface in the coming months, the company told ABC News.
Noland Arbaugh, the first study participant to receive Neuralink’s surgically implanted device, sat down with ABC News for a wide-ranging exclusive interview that aired Friday.
Arbaugh, 30, said the device gave him almost complete control over using a computer — using only his thoughts.
The device, which is about the size of a coin, is implanted under the skull and uses 64 tiny wires, or filaments, equipped with more than 1,000 electrodes that can read the activity of neurons in the brain and connect to a computer or smartphone, according to a company.
Arbaugh could soon be one of three patients in the Neuralink study.
“We are looking to implant our participant number two and participant number three in the coming months,” said Neuralink co-founder DJ Seo.
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Neuralink, co-founded by billionaire Elon Musk in 2016 and a team of scientists and engineers, is one of several companies testing “brain computer interfaces” on volunteers with paralysis.
These devices, which are surgically implanted on the surface of the brain, can decode brain signals, allowing people who can’t use their hands to control computers, tablets and phones using their thoughts.
Seo says the company also plans to test a robotic arm.
“If you’re able to get control of control in the digital space, you can quickly mount it in the physical space, whether it’s a robotic prosthetic arm or, you know, controlling your environment [like a] smart home,” said Seo.
Other companies are already experimenting with robotic arms, allowing paralyzed study participants to control robotic arms by thinking alone.
In 2016, then-President Barack Obama famously punched a robotic arm controlled by Nathan Copeland, a man who held the record for longest life with a brain computer interface — a decade.
Blackrock Neurotech, which made Copeland’s device, and Synchron are the other two major companies working on brain-computer interfaces, said Dr. Laura Cabrera, who studies neuroethics at Pennsylvania State University.
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There are also many academic teams working on a range of potential solutions, including for people who have lost the ability to speak and for people with severe depression that cannot be treated with available therapies.
But neuroethicist Cabrera says there’s a big gap between the hype and fear surrounding these devices compared to what they can actually do today. For example, there’s a common misconception that devices can “read our minds,” she said.
But for people with paralysis, access to a device that can convert brain signals into the ability to move a computer cursor or control a robotic arm can be life-changing.
Today, scientists agree that this technology is not ready for the common man.
“Our primary goal is to provide solutions to those with dire medical conditions. And BCI is also a highly regulated space – like any other medical device technology,” said Seo.
But the technology is advancing rapidly, with volunteers like Arbaugh and Copeland helping to pave the way for potentially wider use of brain-computer interfaces in a wider range of patients.
“Our current step, and what Noland is demonstrating, is our early proof of feasibility,” Seo said. “We have a couple of years before we get pre-market approval for the mass market on this.”
ABC News’ Leah Sarnoff contributed to this report.
