Billionaire Elon Musk has announced that his neural interface technology company Neuralink has completed its third human patient brain-chip implant. Neuralink Corp., which performed its first human brain chip implant back in January 2024, has plans for about 20 to 30 more implants in 2025. Musk himself confirmed the development during an event in Las Vegas, which was live-streamed on X.
The Musk-owned company uses advanced robotic technology to precisely implant its Brain-Computer Interface (BCI). These chips are placed into a specific part of the brain that controls the intention to move, or what we can call ‘movement sensitivity.’ The main work of these chips is to interpret the electrical activity in the brain related to movement.
After decoding brain signals, they convert these signals into instructions that can be used to control external devices, like a computer, smartphone, or even a robotic arm. Such Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) implants also include extremely thin and delicate threads that can carry electrical signals from the brain.
While commenting on the success of the third implant, Musk said, “We’ve now got three humans with Neuralinks implanted, and they’re all working well.”
So far, the neurotechnology company – founded in 2016 – has registered two U.S. studies for its devices with the Food and Drug Administration. One is the ‘PRIME’ (Precise Robotically Implanted Brain-Computer Interface) Study, and the other is ‘Convoy’. Talking about the Prime Study in detail, it involves five patients with paralysis. It aims to explore the possibility of these patients being able to control external devices – like computers and smartphones – using their brain activity. On the other hand, Convoy is designed for three patients. It focuses on using the Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) to control assistive robotic arms to help them with daily tasks.
As mentioned earlier, Neuralink performed its first human patient implant in January 2024 on Noland Arbaugh, who has been a quadriplegic since 2016 following a diving accident. But a few months later, in May 2024, the device began to detach from Arbaugh’s brain. The company has not clearly revealed the reason for the partial retraction of the device.
However, later in August 2024, the company announced its second human brain chip implant. This time, it was on a patient named Alex. The company also claimed that Alex did not experience issues with ‘thread retraction,’ unlike Noland Arbaugh. In fact, he has used the device to play video games and learn how to design 3D objects.
