2024-07-10 23:07:18
Tesla boss Elon Musk’s Neuralink company is recording initial success in stabilizing its brain chip implant. The tiny wires of the implant, inserted into the first participant in a series of tests, have become “more or less very stable,” Neuralink manager Dongjin Seo said in a live stream on social media platform X on Wednesday.
“After brain surgery, it takes a while for the tissue to grow back and anchor the threads in place. Once that happens, everything is stable.” In May, Neuralink reported that some wires in the brain of Noland Arbaugh, who was paralyzed from the shoulders down from a diving accident in 2016, had become disorganized.
So far, Arbaugh is the only patient with the implant. However, Musk hopes to increase the number of patients to high single digits this year. In future implants, the company would like to shape the skull surface in a more detailed way and normalize the carbon dioxide levels in the patients’ blood to minimize the risks. Neuralink is also working on a new, more efficient device with fewer electrodes, he said.
The implant is designed to enable paralyzed patients to control digital devices using their thoughts. Arbaugh can already use it to play video games, surf the Internet and move a cursor.
Musk stressed in the live stream that the device does no damage to the brain. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave the company the green light for human testing last year after safety concerns were raised.
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