Elon Musk’s brain chip has sudden setback

Neuralink – a company owned by Elon Musk that produces implants intended to help patients with conditions such as quadriplegia – made a big step forward this year, but also hit a small setback.

In January , the company took that big step with a successful surgery to implant a Neuralink brain-computer interface chip into the first patient in the PRIME Study. It went so well that Noland Arbaugh of Phoenix, Ariz., was able to go home the following day.

However, the company noted in a Wednesday blog post that not everything has gone as planned in the weeks following the operation. Arbaugh’s implant included 1,024 electrodes across 64 “highly flexible, ultra-thin threads,” the company said “are key to minimize damage during implantation and beyond,” and some of them didn’t stay in place.

“In the weeks following the surgery, a number of threads retracted from the brain, resulting in a net decrease in the number of effective electrodes,” said the Neuralink post. These threads are so thin that Neuralink has a surgical robot insert them

With the decrease in electrodes came a reduction in bits-per-second speed, a standard measure of speed and accuracy for the technology’s cursor control. Neuralink said its team modified the recoding algorithm for the chip to be more sensitive to neural population signals and more to compensate for the retractions.

“These refinements produced a rapid and sustained improvement in BPS, that has now superseded Noland’s initial performance,” the post said.

According to Neuralink, the chip allows patients to quickly and reliably use computers. It also said the implant is cosmetically invisible and can allow those with it to control a computer or mobile device anywhere they go.

Previously, Arbaugh used a device with a mouth stick to use technology.

“The biggest thing with comfort is that I can lie in my bed and use [the Link].
Any other assistive technology had to have someone else help or have me sit up. Sitting causes stress mentally and on my body which would give me pressure sores or spasms. It lets me live on my own time, not needing to have someone adjust me, etc. throughout the day,” said Arbaugh of his experience.

He’s also been playing everything from chess to Mario Kart. Arbaugh even said that he’s been beating his friends at games “that as a quadriplegic I should not be beating them in,” and that the implant has helped him reconnect with the world.

According to Ars Technica , The Wall Street Journal first reported that an unknown number of threads have become displaced in Arbaugh’s brain. Neuralink then confirmed it in the blog post.

“It remains unclear why the threads moved from their placement, but one hypothesis that sources told the Journal is that there was air trapped inside Arbaugh’s skull after the surgery, a condition called pneumocephalus,” Ars Technica said. “The sources familiar with Neuralink’s trial said that the possibility of removing the implant was considered after the problem was identified.”

Per Neuralink, the aim of its PRIME Study is to “demonstrate that the Link is safe and useful in daily life,” first with cursor control and later with text entry. In the future, the company also hopes to expand the technology to enable control of robotic arms, wheelchairs, and “other technologies that may help increase independence for people living with quadriplegia.”