Despite setback, Neuralink’s first brain-implant patient stays upbeat

Noland Arbaugh, the first patient to take part in the clinical trial of humans testing Elon Musk’s Neuralink device, who is paralyzed from the fourth vertebra in his neck down from an accident, at home in Yuma, Ariz., May 21, 2024. From a small desert town in Arizona, Arbaugh has emerged as an enthusiastic spokesman for Neuralink, one of at least five companies leveraging decades of academic research to engineer a device that can help restore function in people with disabilities or degenerative diseases. — The New York Times

Just four months ago, Noland Arbaugh had a circle of bone removed from his skull and hair-thin sensor tentacles slipped into his brain. A computer about the size of a small stack of quarters was placed on top, and the hole was sealed.

Paralysed below the neck, Arbaugh is the first patient to take part in the clinical trial of humans testing Elon Musk’s Neuralink device, and his early progress was greeted with excitement.