The First Person With A Neuralink Chip In His Head Learned To Control A Cursor With His Mind

Elon Musk said that the first patient with a Neuralink chip implanted into the brain has already recovered from surgery and is now able to control a computer mouse cursor with the power of thought. The procedure, we remind you, took place at the end of January.

These words, according to Reuters, were spoken by Elon Musk in the audio chat service Spaces on the pages of his social network X: “Good progress is being observed, the patient has fully recovered, as far as can be judged, we are monitoring the effect of the operation on his nervous system. The patient is able to move the mouse cursor across the screen only through willpower.” According to Musk, the Neuralink team is now trying to teach the patient to press the virtual mouse button as often as possible. In the future, this will speed up the interaction of a paralyzed patient with a computer and, over time, give him the ability to control, for example, bionic prostheses.

The Neuralink project was launched in 2016, in 2023 the company’s value was estimated at $5 billion. At the same time, Musk’s company does not claim primacy in implanting a chip in a person: the startup Synchron implanted a brain-computer interface in a person back in 2022, which allows you to control electronic devices with the power of thought.