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Elon Musk and Neuralink have revealed they will test their brain implant on a second patient within the “next week or so.”
The company didn’t name the patient during its live presentation on X. It said in May that it would install the circuitry in another patient, but didn’t give a timeline.
Executive Dongjin Seo added that the wires in the first patient, Noland Arbaugh, were now “more or less very stable” despite most of them detaching earlier in the year. He also regained control that he lost after the detachment.
Neuralink said it was learning from the initial procedure and would take steps to minimize risks of detachment and excess air, including reducing the CO2 concentration and sculpting the skull to shrink the gap beneath the implant.
Improved version of @Neuralink update
pic.twitter.com/zk3cdbMtEC— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 11, 2024
Musk hopes for several patients to receive implants by the end of 2024.
Arbaugh was paralyzed from the shoulders down after a diving accident in 2016. The Neuralink implant, installed in January, let him regain some basic control that included playing digital chess.
Neuralink spent years both developing its technology and getting approval for trials from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The agency was wary of possible safety issues at first, but approved testing in 2023.
The company, along with rivals like Synchron, hopes implants will overcome paralysis and other frequently permanent conditions. A Blindsight project could even let blind people see, Musk said.
Numerous challenges remain. Companies like Neuralink will have to succeed in trials to please the FDA and other regulators. And while current technology allows regaining some skills, it’s not yet to the point where patients could regain many of their previous abilities. A widely available solution could still be distant.
