Elon Musk announces Neuralink is ready to accept its second brain implant patient

The first human to accept a Neuralink brain chip implant was able to control a PC through their thoughts, and now the Elon Musk-led company is looking for its second participant.

In early March, Neuralink showcased a 29-year-old man named Nolan Arbaugh, who was unfortunately paralyzed from the neck down following a tragic diving accident eight years ago. Arbaugh demonstrated the capabilities of the Neuralink brain chip called "Telepathy" in a video that showed him controlling the cursor on a PC and even playing a game of Mario Kart against another player.

Neuralink has since taken to its official X account to share a video of Arbaugh talking about his motivations behind agreeing to participate in the trial, saying that he wants to help future quadriplegics based on what is learned from his involvement now. Notably, Arbaugh said the surgery for the brain implant was "super easy," and there was a significant learning process to differentiate "imagined movement versus attempted movement" in order to control a cursor on a PC.

Furthermore, it was only a week ago that Neuralink revealed that some of the threads from the brain implant going into the Arbaugh's brain tissue began to retract. These threads are thinner than human hair and record neural signals, with Neuralink writing they found a workaround by altering the recording algorithm, leading to better control for Arbaugh's cursor.

• Read more: Neuralink unveils first brain implant patient controlling a PC with their thoughts
• Read more: Gamer shown playing Mario Kart with Telepathy, Elon Musk's brain chip implant
• Read more: Neuralink confirms its first human brain chip patient experienced a malfunction