'I can look and it goes where I want it to': Neuralink participant is using his brain chip to play Counter-Strike 2 with just his mind

While we've heard much talk of the supposed superpowers Elon Musk's Neuralink project might enable, it hits differently to see it working for yourself in a game. Musk's current chip-on-brain testing project («PRIME») has had two participants so far, and it looks like the second one's wasted no time getting to gaming on PC.

Neuralink's «Link» is a brain-computer interface (BCI)—a device that gets surgically implanted into the brain and is intended to allow one to control digital devices by neural activity, ie, thought. According to the latest Neuralink PRIME study progress update, Alex, the second participant, has not only been making fast use of the Link for 3D print designs in CAD software Fusion 360, but he's also been using it to play Counter-Strike 2. 

Alex is using the Link to literally think where to go in the game, and it takes him there.

This is more than an extravagant luxury, too, because Alex has a spinal cord injury that makes interfacing with digital devices difficult. The Neuralink update tells us that, for gaming, Alex previously used a mouth-operated device called the Quadstick, but this only has one joystick.

Now, with the Link, he can «move and aim simultaneously, unlocking a more intuitive gameplay experience». Surely it also unlocks a whole world of FPS games, making them eminently playable.

It seems this is what it's all about for Musk, too. As stated back in May, the goal is «to provide a high-performance interface that will enhance the control of digital devices for people with quadriplegia, unlocking their personal and professional potential».

And the goal of the PRIME study specifically is to «assess the initial functionality of our BCI for enabling people with quadriplegia to control external devices with their thoughts.»

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It worked well with the first participant (some BCI-detaching issues aside), and it looks like it's working well with the