Neuralink’s first human trial has needed some troubleshooting

Neuralink, the brain implant startup founded by Elon Musk, began its first human trial in January. And, while it’s seen a string of successes, the trial has also encountered some issues.

What happened: In January, 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh, who became a quadriplegic after a diving accident in 2016, had Neuralink’s brain implant installed. Since then, using just his mind, he’s been able to browse the internet, use his computer, and play video games like Chess, Civilization VI, and Mario Kart 8 on the Nintendo Switch, according to a blog post from Neuralink.

But if this brain-implant trial was peanut butter, it’d be the mildly chunky version – because not everything has gone smoothly.

• Neuralink’s device is about the size of a quarter, and designed to be fully implanted on the skull. The device uses 64 ultra-thin threads with tiny electrodes to pick up neural signals from the patient.
• In Arbaugh’s case, an undisclosed number of threads have somehow retracted from his brain, leading to some data loss. Neuralink says it’s troubleshooted this issue by modifying the recording algorithm to be more sensitive and increase the flow of data.

👀 Looking ahead… Brain implants have the potential to restore function to millions living with spinal cord injuries. US regulators in September gave Neuralink the go-ahead to recruit humans to participate in clinical trials, and the company has set a goal to implant 10 people with its device this year.