Neuralink Implants Brain Chip in Second Patient, Musk Reveals Progress

Elon Musk’s brain implant startup, Neuralink has implanted a second patient with one of its brain chips.

Speaking on the Lex Fridman Podcast, Musk confirmed the news, saying: “There's a lot of signal, a lot of electrodes. It's working very well.”

Neuralink’s Telepathy chip is designed to be implanted in the brains of people with mobility issues, enabling them to connect and operate smart devices.

The Musk-owned startup sought applications for its second human implant back in May. 

Musk said Neuralink plans to perform eight more procedures on human patients by the end of 2024, bringing the total of implants the startup has conducted to 10.

“It’s obviously going to get better with each one,” Musk said.

The identity of the second patient has not been disclosed. The patient currently has around 400 electrodes now functioning in his or her head — less than the 1,024 electrodes Neuralink’s website states its N1 chips use.

Noland Arbaugh received the first Neuralink implant earlier this year and can control a computer mouse and play video games like Mario Kart and Civilization VI purely using his thoughts.

“We feel pretty confident that in the next year or two, someone with a Neuralink implant would be able to outperform a pro gamer because the reaction time would be faster,” Musk said.

Related:Musk Neuralink Opens Applications for Second Human Trial

“Just having the freedom to do things on my own, at any hour of the day or night, it means the world to me,” said Arbaugh, who also appeared on the podcast.

Arbaugh did face some issues with his chip. The “threads” that connect the chip to the brain retracted, which impacted the startup’s ability to monitor the chip’s performance. The issue was later rectified.