"Attendees at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech conference last week witnessed a demonstration of both technological innovation and human resilience when Noland Arbaugh, the first human recipient of Neuralink's brain-computer interface (BCI) chip, played chess using only his thoughts. Arbaugh also shared candid insights into his pioneering journey, including his memorable first encounter with Neuralink's cofounder and the world's richest man, Elon Musk."
"For years, Arbaugh lived what he describes as a severely limited existence. "I would stay up all hours of [the] night, just sleep in whenever, wake up whenever I wanted to because I didn't really have anything planned, didn't have anything going on in my life," he told Fortune senior writer Jessica Mathews during their conversation. Arbaugh said he left his house only a couple of times per year."
""Before Neuralink, I thought I would never travel again," he said. "[I] thought I would just stay in my room." Then came an unexpected phone call that would change his life. A friend asked if he would be interested in getting a chip implanted in his brain. Arbaugh said he remembered his response that day: "I said, 'Got nothing better to do.'""
"Neuralink, cofounded by Elon Musk in 2016, had spent years developing and testing its technology on animals before receiving FDA approval for human trials in May 2023. Arbaugh's surgical procedure took place on January 28, 2024, at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, about 2.5 hours from his home in Yuma. The two-hour surgery involved implanting a coin-sized chip beneath his skull, connected to over 1,000 electrodes that can read neural activity and translate it into digital commands."
Noland Arbaugh became the first human recipient of Neuralink's brain-computer interface and played chess using only his thoughts at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech conference. He became paralyzed from the shoulders down after a 2016 diving accident and lived largely homebound and dependent on family for years. A friend suggested getting a chip implanted, and he agreed. Neuralink received FDA approval for human trials in May 2023. Surgeons implanted a coin-sized device beneath his skull on January 28, 2024, at Barrow Neurological Institute; the device connects over 1,000 electrodes to read neural activity and translate it into digital commands. Arbaugh also recalled meeting Neuralink cofounder Elon Musk.
Read at Fortune
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