Neuralink is running its first human trials on a 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh.
Elon Musk believes that Neuralink’s brain chips will replace phones in the future. Responding to a post on X, he wrote, “In the future, there will be no phones, just Neuralinks”. Notably, he is also the CEO of Neuralink that is working on brain chip technology. It is also running first human trials on a 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh.
This post was a response to an AI-generated picture of Musk holding a phone with a neural network design on his forehead, asking if people would install a Neuralink interface to control their devices by thought. This picture was captioned as “Would you install a Neuralink interface on your brain to allow you to control your new X phone by thinking?”
Several users on X responded to Musk’s comment. One wrote, “Love you Elon. But brother no way in hell am I implanting something in my head. That’s a hard no for me bro.” while another wrote, “That’s going to be wild.”
For the unversed, Arbaugh, Neuralink’s first human subject, was left paralyzed from the shoulders down following an accident eight years ago. He went through the brain surgery on January 28 and is showing promising signs of recovery now. He even reached the 100-day mark after which Neuralink revealed detailed progress in a blogpost.
Back in March, Neuralink streamed a video showcasing Arbaugh’s progress. He also shared an experience of how Neuralink has transformed his ability to engage in activities he loves, such as playing chess. “It’s crazy, so cool. I am lucky to be a part of this. It seems every day I am learning something new. I can’t describe how cool it is to be able to do this,” he said in the video.
Musk recently announced that Neuralink is now open to accept applications for second participant. He wrote, “Neuralink is accepting applications for the second participant. This is our Telepathy cybernetic brain implant that allows you to control your phone and computer just by thinking.”
Despite the growing trend, Neuralink is facing other hurdles. As per a report by New York Post, a former Neuralink animal care specialist, Lindsay Short, filed a lawsuit against the company. She alleges they failed to provide proper protective equipment while she cared for animals. Some of these animals carried a dangerous virus that can cause serious brain damage or even death in humans.
