Tech Desk
Aug 05, 2024
Neuralink has revealed that it has successfully administered its second clinical patient, its brain implant.
The revelation was made during an excessively long Lex Fridman podcast that included a few Nueralink executives and the company’s first clinical patient, Noland Arbaugh.
Musk avoided revealing much about this second patient but revealed that 400 electrodes in the patient’s implant were working, Nueralink’s website states that the implant uses 1,024 electrodes.
Nueralink’s implants are attempting to help improve accessibility for paralysed patients with spinal injuries. This second patient suffers a similar injury, Musk believes the trial to be going well.
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"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, " Musk told podcast host Lex Fridman.
It isn’t clear when the second implant was delivered though Musk intends to have trials for eight more people this year.
The first clinical patient, Noland Arbaugh, suffered a spinal injury during a diving accident, following having received the implant, he demonstrated being able to play games, watch videos and move his computer’s cursor with just his thoughts.
Arbaugh's implant did face an initial setback after the wires of his implant retracted but that was corrected by Nueralink with a modification in the implant’s algorithm that made it more sensitive.
