The man with a mental reading chip in his brain, thanks to Elon Musk

Having a chip in your brain that can translate your thoughts into computer commands may seem science fiction, but it is a reality for Noland Arbaugh.

In January 2024, eight years after being paralyzed: the 30 -year -old became the first person to obtain such a device from the United States Neurotechnology Firm, Neuralink.

It was not the first chip of this type, a handful of other companies have also developed and implanted them, but Noland inevitably attracts more attention due to the founder of Neuralink: Elon Musk.

But Noland says that the important thing is not him or musk, but science.

He told the BBC that he knew the risks of what he was doing, but “good or bad, whatever, would be helping.”

“If everything worked, then it could help be a Neuralink participant,” he said.

“If something terrible happened, I knew they would learn from that.”

Noland, who is from Arizona, was paralyzed under the shoulders in a diving accident in 2016.

His injuries were so serious that he feared he could not study, work or even play games again.

“You just have no control, or privacy, and it’s difficult,” he said.

“You have to learn that you have to trust other people for everything.”

The Neuralink chip seeks to restore a fraction of its previous independence, allowing you to control a computer with your mind.

It is what is known as cerebral computer interface (BCI), which works detecting the small electrical impulses generated when humans think about moving and translating them into the digital command, such as moving a cursor on a screen.

It is a complex issue in which scientists have been working for several decades.

Inevitably, Elon Musk’s participation in the field has catapulted technology, and Noland Arbaugh, in the headlines.

It helps Neuralink attract a lot of investment, as well as scrutiny about the security and importance of what an extremely invasive procedure is.

When Noland’s implant was announced, Experts acclaimed him as a “significant milestone”While warning that it would really take time to evaluate, especially given Musk’s experts in “generating advertising for your company.”

Musk was cautious in public at that time, simply writing in a publication on social networks: “The initial results show a promising detection of neurons.”

Actually, Noland said, the billionaire, with whom he spoke before and after his surgery, was much more optimistic.

“I think I was as excited as me to start,” he said.

However, it emphasizes that Neuralink is more than its owner, and states that it does not consider it “an Elon Musk device.”

If the rest of the world sees it that way – Especially given its increasingly controversial role in the United States government – It remains to be seen.

But the impact that the device has had on Noland’s life is not questioned.

When Noland woke up from the surgery that installed the device, he said he could initially control a cursor on a screen thinking about moving his fingers.

“Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect, so science fiction sounds,” he said.

But after seeing their neurons on a screen, all the time surrounded by excited Neuralink employees, he said “everything sank” that he could control his computer only with his thoughts.

And, even better, over time, its ability to use the implant has grown to the point that you can now play chess and video games.

“I grew up playing games,” he said, adding that it was something that “had to let go” when it was disabled.

“Now I am hitting my friends in the games, which really shouldn’t be possible, but it is.”

Noland is a powerful demonstration of technology potential to change lives, but there may also be inconveniences.

“One of the main problems is privacy,” said Anil Seth, a professor of neuroscience, Sussex University.

“Then, if we are exporting our brain activity (…), then we are allowing access not only to what we do but potentially what we think, what we believe and what we feel,” he told the BBC.

“Once you have access to things inside your head, there really is no other barrier to personal privacy.”

But these are not concerns for Noland; Instead, he wants the chips to go further in terms of what they can do.

He told the BBC that he expected the device to finally allow him to control his wheelchair, or even a futuristic humanoid robot.

Even with technology in its current and most limited state, not everything has been a navigation without problems.

At one time, a problem with the device made him lose control of his computer completely, when he partially disconnected from his brain.

“That was really annoying to say the least,” he said.

“I didn’t know if Neuralink could never use.”

The connection was repaired, and subsequently improved, when engineers adjusted the software, but highlighted a concern often expressed by experts about technology limitations.

Neuralink is just one of the many companies that explore how to use our brain power digitally.

Synchron is one of those companies, which says that its stentrode device aimed at helping people with motor neurons requires less invasive surgery to implement.

Instead of requiring open brain surgery, it is installed in the jugular vein of a person on the neck, then moves towards his brain through a blood vessel.

Like Neuralink, the device finally connects to the brain motor region.

“It accelerates when someone is thinking of playing or not touching their finger,” said Technology Director Riki Bannerjee.

“By being able to collect those differences, you can create what we call a digital motor output.”

That output becomes computer signals, where it is currently being used by 10 people.

One of those people, who did not want his last name to be used, told the BBC that he was the first person in the world to use the device with Apple Vision Pro headphones.

Mark said this has allowed him to practically vacation in remote places, from standing in cascades in Australia to walking through the mountains of New Zealand.

“I can see the path in the future a world in which this technology could really make a difference for someone who has this or any paralysis,” he said.

But for Noland there is a warning with its Neuralink chip: it agreed to be part of a study that installed it for six years, after which the future is less clear.

Whatever happens with him, he believes that his experience can simply scratch the surface of what one day could become a reality.

“We know very little about the brain and this allows us to learn much more,” he said.

Additional reports by Yasmin Morgan-Griffiths.