Neuralink has reported that a second trial patient is benefiting from the implant. Elon Musk's brain technology firm intends to enable paralysed individuals to operate digital gadgets using just thoughts.
As reported by the company to Reuters, Alex, the patient, did not experience “thread retraction” in contrast to Noland Arbaugh, who became Neuralink's first patient and had the implant in January.
The news outlet also stated that Arbaugh's “tiny wires of the implant” were removed after surgery. It led to a “sharp reduction in the electrodes” that were used to record brain activity.
According to Neuralink, Arbaugh's threads have stabilised. The business went on to say that in order to avoid similar problems with its second patient, it took steps including reducing how much the brain moved during surgery and minimising the space between the implant and the surface of the brain.
Neuralink is currently carrying out testing on their gadget, which is meant to assist those who have suffered spinal cord injuries. The first patient can reportedly use the gadget to move the mouse on his laptop, play video games, access the internet and post on social media.
The second patient had the device safely implanted by the company last month. Since then, the patient has been using it to play video games as well as understand techniques to construct 3D objects.
As per The Guardian, Musk hinted at the outcome of the second testing in remarks he made on a podcast. According to Musk, the second patient's brain has 400 operational electrodes from the implant. On their website, Neuralink claims that 1,024 electrodes are used in their implant.
Musk said to podcast host Lex Fridman, “I don't want to jinx it, but it seems to have gone extremely well with the second implant.” “There’s a lot of signal, a lot of electrodes. It’s working very well,” he added.
As part of its clinical testing, Musk stated he anticipates Neuralink will place the implants in eight additional patients this year. He also stated that he had spoken with Donald Trump, whom he has been supporting in the US presidential election, about creating a committee to improve “government efficiency” through less corporate regulation and would be glad to be a member.
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