Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that his neuroscience startup Neuralink successfully implanted its own developed computer chip into the brain of a second patient.
According to Reuters, Elon revealed during Lex Fridman’s podcast on the 2nd that 400 electrodes implanted in the second patient’s brain are operational, confirming, “There’s a lot of signal, a lot of electrodes. It’s working very well.”
Neuralink reports that the implant uses 1,024 electrodes.
Musk, however, did not disclose detailed information about the second patient’s identity or the timing of the surgery. He added, “I don’t want to jinx it, but it seems to have gone extremely well with the second implant.”
Neuralink has been advancing brain-computer interface (BCI) technology, enabling individuals with physical impairments to control various devices by implanting a BCI device into the brain.
In late January, surgeons performed the first surgery to implant a chip into the brain of quadriplegic patient Norland Arbaugh. They began recruiting for a second round of applicants in May.
Arbaugh, the first participant, was live-streamed in March. He was sitting in a wheelchair, unable to move his hands and feet, and manipulating a mouse cursor on a laptop screen to play online chess.
He was paralyzed from the shoulders down following a diving accident in 2016. However, after receiving a computer chip developed by Neuralink implanted in his brain, he could control a cursor with his thoughts alone.
Meanwhile, following the second patient, Neuralink is actively seeking new candidates for implantation. Elon said they expect to provide implants to eight more patients this year.
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