7 People Now Have Neuralink Brain Implant 26
Seven people have now received Neuralink's N1 brain implant, which enables individuals with ALS or spinal cord injuries to control a computer with their thoughts. PCMag reports: In a February 2025 update, Neuralink confirmed that three people had received its brain-computer interface (BCI). That increased to five by June, when it also reported a $650 million funding round. We're now at seven, Barrow tweeted today; Neuralink retweeted that message.
Six of the seven are participating in the PRIME study, conducted by Barrow, which handles the implantations from its Phoenix, Arizona, office. It aims to prove that the N1 implant, the R1 surgical robot, and the N1 User App on the computer are safe and effective, according to the program brochure. (No BCIs have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.)
Participants in the study get the implant through a surgery in which a custom-built robotic arm drills a hole in their skull and implants the device. The implant connects to a computer via Bluetooth, allowing patients to move the cursor, select words to type, browse the web, and even play video games -- a favorite activity of Neuralink's first human patient, Noland Arbaugh, who can do this all without moving any limbs or fingers. [...] Arbaugh, now 31, became paralyzed during a diving accident. Other Neuralink patients include Alex, a former machine parts builder who lost function of his arms and uses his N1 Implant to design 3D machine parts with computer-aided design (CAD). The third patient is Brad, the first person with ALS to receive the N1 implant, according to Barrow.
Mike is the fourth patient, and "the first person with a full-time job to use the N1 Implant," Barrow says. "He worked as a survey technician for city government and spent the majority of his time in the field until his ALS made the work too difficult. Like Alex, Mike has used CAD software with his Neuralink device to continue doing survey work from home and provide for his family." The fifth publicly named patient is RJ, a veteran who became paralyzed after a motorcycle accident, according to the University of Miami. The other two patients remain anonymous, but we can expect Neuralink to continue recruiting more people (here's how to apply).
Six of the seven are participating in the PRIME study, conducted by Barrow, which handles the implantations from its Phoenix, Arizona, office. It aims to prove that the N1 implant, the R1 surgical robot, and the N1 User App on the computer are safe and effective, according to the program brochure. (No BCIs have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.)
Participants in the study get the implant through a surgery in which a custom-built robotic arm drills a hole in their skull and implants the device. The implant connects to a computer via Bluetooth, allowing patients to move the cursor, select words to type, browse the web, and even play video games -- a favorite activity of Neuralink's first human patient, Noland Arbaugh, who can do this all without moving any limbs or fingers. [...] Arbaugh, now 31, became paralyzed during a diving accident. Other Neuralink patients include Alex, a former machine parts builder who lost function of his arms and uses his N1 Implant to design 3D machine parts with computer-aided design (CAD). The third patient is Brad, the first person with ALS to receive the N1 implant, according to Barrow.
Mike is the fourth patient, and "the first person with a full-time job to use the N1 Implant," Barrow says. "He worked as a survey technician for city government and spent the majority of his time in the field until his ALS made the work too difficult. Like Alex, Mike has used CAD software with his Neuralink device to continue doing survey work from home and provide for his family." The fifth publicly named patient is RJ, a veteran who became paralyzed after a motorcycle accident, according to the University of Miami. The other two patients remain anonymous, but we can expect Neuralink to continue recruiting more people (here's how to apply).
Make that 8 (Score:3, Funny)
...Elon's odd & moody behavior of late is possibly due to more than just ketamine.
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just like elona will never fly its spacecraft, it will never use its "brain implants". the ketamine may have made it dumber, but not that dumb.
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...Elon's odd & moody behavior of late is possibly due to more than just ketamine.
Botched implant was the other head https://www.snopes.com/news/20... [snopes.com]
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Did they solve the retraction problem? (Score:3)
The problem Neuralink and some of the other BCI companies had was that the electrodes retract after a few months -- they had to remove the first Neuralink recipient's transplant within a month (and btw yeah: Neuralink isn't the only one nor the first .. in fact they're not yet the leader -- they will be the leader soon though due to the funding levels and fame). The leader (currently, though not for long) FYI is probably Braingate. https://www.braingate.org/ [braingate.org] though blackjack neurotech isn't far behind https://blackrockneurotech.com... [blackrockneurotech.com]
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You're right and I was wrong in that the device wasn't removed. But as of October 2024, it was only slightly functional. Here is an article: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/0... [nytimes.com]
And? Implant lifetime? (Score:3)
Because that was always the limiting factor before and, AFAIK, it remains unsolved. If you have to get a new one every 2-3 years, it is going to be a massive problem.
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Yep. Because eventually you will stay paralyzed as the operation becomes too risky and each time in between you habe a high risk of very bad complications.
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2 to 3 years may be OK .. but the first Neuralink only lasted one month due to electrode retraction. They'll fix it at some point I'm sure. It can't be too hard. I mean nerves are able to stick around, it should be possible to mimic that.
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https://newmobility.com/noland... [newmobility.com]
https://www.newsnationnow.com/... [newsnationnow.com]
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They'll fix it at some point I'm sure. It can't be too hard.
About 50 years of research in that area say differently. This is a very hard problem.
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The implant is guaranteed to work for the life of the implant or the life of the recipient, whichever ends first.
The brain API is undocumented (Score:2)
The problem this tech faces, of course, is how to interface with the brain. Generally speaking, they rely on the person basically reprogramming themselves, i.e., learning how to interface themselves to the chip.
I wonder if the real way forward wouldn't be to read brain activation patterns, rather than trying to interface directly with neurons.
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Well, yeah... I would think a skull-cap of sensors (hooked into an amplifier) in the right places on the skull cap could read the impulses that would, let's say, flip someone the bird, and pulse the muscles in your arm to do so. Or, it should be a thing like the cochlear implant, where the root of the thing stays in the skull and connected, and you clip/attach/whatever a thing on it to read the brain pulses to do a thing with your arms or legs.
I know the tech is still in it's infancy, so it'll be interesti
Tough decisions (Score:3)
On the one hand, I have no doubt that the benefit is enormous for everyone who gets one of these installed.
On the other hand, how many times have we all looked a high-tech device and thought, "wow, but I bet next year's model will do be better and/or cost less."
I can't even imagine how tough that decision would be when the baseline for "better" is already a life-changing improvement, the cost is astronomical, the installation procedure is brain surgery, and the upgrade procedure is brain surgery again.
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It's not astronomical cost. A robot (under supervision) does the brain surgery and installation in under 20 minutes (under general anesthesia and all that of course).
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The claim in the presentations was that the total manufacturing cost of the electrodes got reduced from $350 to $15. The rest of it is basically similar electronics as an AirTag.
Another brilliant post (Score:2)
Lol guise it's not expensive. Just an anesthesiologist and operating room. The expensive part is done by a robot. Right?
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Yes, watch their presentation. They said the operation is under 20 mins, and also the next generation of electrodes total manufacturing cost per chip would be $15 (down f
Synaptic Seepage (Score:2)
Gonna get so much synaptic seepage from these things. Maybe Elon never watched Johnny Nemonic
Only 7 People Remaining Who Like Musk (Score:3)