Neuralink's first human brain implant patient explains how it went wrong

Neuralink's very first human patient to receive the company brain-computer interface (BCI) has sat down for an interview with Joe Rogan, where he explained the whole process of receiving a brain chip and his experience with it so far.

29-year-old Nolan Arbaugh became Neuralink's first patient to receive a BCI, and the extraordinary technology has enabled the individual who became paralyzed from the neck down following a diving accident to control digital devices with his thoughts. Arbaugh has already been shown controlling a computer cursor, playing Mario Kart, and more. However, the BCI procedure wasn't without its problems.

At the beginning of May, Neuralink posted an update on Arbaugh explaining that a malfunction occurred within the first weeks after the procedure. The company gave a somewhat detailed response on the issue, but now Arbaugh has explained himself. On the Joe Rogan Experience, Arbaugh explained there are 64 "threads" thinner than a human hair implanted into his brain with 16 electrodes on them each (1,024 electrodes total), and over the course of a month, "a lot of the threads retracted."

• Read more: Gamer shown playing Mario Kart with Telepathy, Elon Musk's brain chip implant

This resulted in fewer signals being monitored by Neuralink and a decline in overall performance (less control of digital devices with thoughts). Arbaugh then explains the retraction of these threads occurred, at least in part, due to the brain "moving" more than Neuralink anticipated.

"The brain moves more than they thought it would. Which is something that is so bizarre to me when I first heard that," said Arbaugh

Arbaugh then explains that your brain actually pulses with your heart and that Neuralink thought the brain moves at a "1mm rate," but Arbaugh's brain was moving at a 3mm rate. This problem was overcome with a workaround that was conceived by Neuralink, which was a modification to the algorithm for the BCI.