Elon Musk’s Neuralink began their first human trial of a brain chip back in January this year on a 29-year-old man named Noland Arbaugh. As per the company’s blogpost, parts of the brain chip malfunctioned for the first time.
Nueralink built a brain-computer interface, or BCI, with an aim to help patients with paralysis control external technology with their minds. The company’s system, called the Link, records neural signals using 1,024 electrodes across 64 “threads” that are thinner than a human hair.
However, some of the electrode-studded threads that sit in the brain tissue began to retract from that tissue, the company reported. This led to malfunctioning of the chip. Neuralink has confirmed that it has fixed the problem with a series of software updates. As per the blogpost, “In response to this change, we modified the recording algorithm to be more sensitive to neural population signals, improved the techniques to translate these signals into cursor movements, and enhanced the user interface. These refinements produced a rapid and sustained improvement in BPS that has now superseded Noland’s initial performance.”
Notably, a malfunction with the brain chip was previously reported by The Wall Street Journal, after which the company posted about it in a blog.
Neuralink revealed that it will soon begin to extend the Link’s functionality to the physical world so that the users are able to control robotic arms, wheelchairs and more. “This may help increase independence for people living with quadriplegia”, the blog post added.
Back in March, Neuralink live-streamed a video with Arbaugh as he used the BCI and stated that the surgery went “extremely well”. Though some threads retracted from Arbaugh’s brain tissue, Neuralink revealed that he is using the company’s BCI system for around eight hours a day during the week, and often as many as 10 hours a day on the weekends. It stated, "Recently, he used the device for a total of 69 hours in a single week: 35 hours of structured sessions and an additional 34 hours of personal use."
As per the blogpost, Arbaugh stated that the Link is like a “luxury overload” and has helped him to “reconnect with the world”.
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