Elon Musk's Neuralink is using a second-person brain chip.
In January, Neuralink implanted a brain chip in a human for the first time. Now, a second patient with a spinal cord injury has been equipped with the implant. In the long run, the goal is to help people suffering from Parkinson's, dementia, or depression.
Neuralink, the medical technology company of billionaire Elon Musk, has implanted a brain chip in a second patient. In a podcast over the weekend, Musk revealed few details about the second participant, who is said to have a similar spinal cord injury as the first patient, who was paralyzed in a diving accident. Musk said that 400 of the implant's electrodes were functioning in the second patient's brain. Neuralink states on its website that its implant uses 1024 electrodes.
"I don't want to jinx it, but it seems to be going very well with the second implant," Musk told podcast host Lex Fridman. "There's a lot of signals, a lot of electrodes. It's working very well." Musk did not disclose when Neuralink operated on the second patient. The Tesla CEO said he expects Neuralink to implant eight more patients in clinical trials this year.
Neuralink first implanted its brain chip in a human in January, but the company initially faced a problem with its first patient. Due to degraded electrodes, the precision and speed of cursor control initially decreased, Neuralink reported. In response, the company made the algorithm for detecting brain activity more sensitive and improved the technology that translates cursor movements. After the software update, the accuracy values were higher than before, according to a Neuralink blog post.
The first patient can now play video games, surf the internet, and move a cursor with the brain chip. Long term, Musk aims to help people suffering from Parkinson's, dementia, or depression with such chips.
The successful operation on the second patient further demonstrates Neuralink's confidence in its brain-computer interface technology. The functioning of 400 electrodes in the patient's brain suggests the potential for improved quality of life for individuals with neurological conditions, such as Parkinson's or depression.
