The 30-year-old quadriplegic who chose to become the first person to receive Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain implant chip, dubbed ‘The Link’, has revealed how the pioneering technology has changed his life.
Noland Arbaugh, who became paralyzed from the shoulders down after suffering a spinal cord injury in what he described as a freak accident after jumping into a man-made lake, became the first person to participate in a Neuralink clinical trial in January, eight years after the accident.
In an exclusive interview with Good Morning America, Will Reeve Arbaugh said that the device gave him the ability to have almost complete control over his computer usage – 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.
“I can control a computer just like anyone else, which is not something I’ve been able to do before,” Arbaugh said.
Arbaugh said he wasn’t worried about signing up for the first phase of the clinical trial because by being at the forefront of research, he’s helping pave the way to improving the lives of people who are paralyzed like him.
“I knew if I did this, it would take a lot of headache and heartache out of people down the road,” he said.
Despite the great progress since undergoing the procedure, there were problems with the technology that almost led to the removal of the device from the company’s brain.
Arbaugh said that after some of the threads came loose from his brain, there were performance issues with the device.
Fearing he would lose the improvements the device brought to his life, Arbaugh said he became emotional.
“It was very, very hard to let go of all the amazing things I’ve been able to do,” Arbaugh said, adding, “I think I basically cried afterward.”
However, Neuralink was able to make modifications to the technology and improve Arbaugh’s connection, according to Neuralink co-founder DJ Seo.
“We rolled up our sleeves and found different ways for Nolan to get his performance back,” SEO said in the Good Morning America interview. “Since then, he’s actually been able to do better than what he was able to do before.”
In a post on the company’s blog, Neuralink explained the modifications made to the device.
“We modified the recording algorithm to be more sensitive to neural population signals, improved techniques for converting these signals into cursor movements, and improved the user interface,” Neurolink wrote on May 8.
Looking to the future, Arbaugh hopes a day will come when spinal cord injuries won’t be completely disabling, saying, “I don’t think it’s as far away as people think.”
“It’s going to be amazing when someone can have a spinal cord injury, go into a hospital, have surgery and come out a few days later,” Arbaugh said, adding, “I think that’s going to happen.”
Neuralink was founded in 2016 by Musk and a team of scientists and engineers. The company says its mission is to “create a generalized brain interface to restore autonomy to those with unmet medical needs,” according to its website.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to better reflect the circumstances of Noland’s accident.
