The tiny wires of Neuralink’s brain chip implant used in the first participant in a trial run by Elon Musk’s company have been “more or less very stable”, a company executive said on Wednesday.
The company said in May that Noland Arbaugh, who is paralyzed from the shoulders down because of a diving accident in 2016, had several tiny wires out of place inside his brain.
“Once you do brain surgery, it takes some time for the tissues to come in and set the threads in place, and once that happens, everything has to be stable,” said Neuralink executive Dongjin “DJ” Seo.
So far, Arizona-based Arbaugh is the only patient to receive the implant, but Musk said he expects the number of participants to be in the high single digits this year.
The company is now taking risk-reducing measures, such as sculpting the skull and reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in patients’ blood to normal levels, company executives said in a live stream on social media platform X.
“In upcoming implants we plan to very deliberately shape the surface of the skull to minimize the gap beneath the implant… this will bring it closer to the brain and eliminate some of the stress on the threads,” said Matthew McDougall, head of neurosurgery at Neuralink.
Neuralink is testing its implant to give paralyzed patients the ability to use digital devices by thinking alone. The device works by using tiny wires, thinner than a human hair, to capture signals from the brain and translate them into actions such as moving a mouse cursor on a computer screen.
Musk said during the livestream that the device does not harm the brain. The US Food and Drug Administration raised safety concerns when considering the device several years ago, but ultimately gave the company the green light to begin human trials last year.
So far, the device has allowed Arbaugh to play video games, browse the Internet and move the cursor on a laptop just by thinking, according to a company blog post and video.
Neuralink is also working on a new device that they believe will halve the number of electrodes implanted in the brain to make it more efficient and powerful, officials said.
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