Elon Musk says 2nd patient implanted with Neuralink brain chip
FILE - Elon Musk, billionaire and chief executive officer of Tesla, at the Viva Tech fair in Paris, France, on Friday, June 16, 2023. Photographer: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Neuralink founder Elon Musk shared an update about the company’s cybernetic brain implants, saying a second patient had successfully received one of the chips.
Reuters reported Musk shared details about the development in an hours-long podcast that was released Friday night, where he was joined with three Neuralink executives and the first Neuralink patient, Noland Arbaugh.
Arbaugh, a quadriplegic with no movement below his shoulders for the past eight years, uses the Neuralink implant to control a cursor on a computer screen with only his thoughts.
It wasn’t clear when the surgery for the second patient took place. The Food and Drug Administration cleared Neuralink to implant its brain chip into a second patient in May.
Musk reportedly said he expects Neuralink to provide the implants to eight more patients this year as part of its clinical trials.
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Neuralink trials
Neuralink, based in Fremont, California, is one of many groups working on linking the nervous system to computers – efforts aimed at helping treat brain disorders, overcoming brain injuries and other applications.
In May 2023, Neuralink received approval from the FDA to proceed with human trials for brain implants. Last fall, the company announced that it was seeking volunteers, saying the ideal candidate was a quadriplegic adult under age 40.
Neuralink’s device is about the size of a large coin and is designed to be implanted in the skull, with ultra-thin wires going directly into the brain.
It’s also meant to stay there for years, reading and analyzing the person’s brain activity, and then relaying that information wirelessly to a nearby laptop or tablet.
"Initial users will be those who have lost the use of their limbs," Musk posted previously on X about the technology. "Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a speed typist or auctioneer. That is the goal."
Hawking, the late theoretical physicist, suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease, a rare condition that causes paralysis.
Musk, who is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, launched Neuralink in 2016. Musk had sought approval for human trials since 2019, but in early 2022, Neuralink’s application was rejected. The company has since worked through concerns expressed by the FDA over the safety of the implant.
The current study of the device will take approximately six years, the company says in documents online. During this time, participants will have regular follow-ups to monitor progress and to ensure the device is working as intended.
This story was reported from Detroit. FOX Business and FOX Television Stations' Kelly Hayes contributed.