Neuralink demonstrates a patient using 'Telepathy' to play games with the power of the mind

The mind physically integrating with the machine can be an uncomfortable concept to think about. Something about the idea of implanting electrodes, chips or indeed anything non-biological inside the delicate workings of the brain can create squeamish thoughts. However, Neuralink has released a livestream of a quadriplegic patient using artificial brain implants, a tech it calls «Telepathy», to play games, and it's difficult to argue with it as a potentially beneficial use-case for the technology.

In a Twitter livestream, patient Noland Arbaugh is joined by a Neuralink engineer to demonstrate the change the implant has made to his life. Arbaugh was injured in a diving accident, causing his C4 and C5 vertebrae to become dislocated, paralysing him from the shoulders down.

Since the Telepathy implantation in January, in which a brain-computer interface was surgically placed in the region of his brain that «controls the intention to move» alongside ultra-fine threads to help transmit signals between the two, Arbaugh says he has been able to control a computer cursor on screen, allowing him to play games. 

In the stream he demonstrates using this movement to play chess, however he's also apparently a fan of Civilisation VI, a game he'd previously stopped playing but says he's since been able to enjoy for hours thanks to the device.

While previously he was able to have some limited control over a touchscreen by the usage of a mouth stick, Arbaugh thanks the company for giving him the ability to play games effectively once more, admitting that he stayed up until six in the morning playing Civ VI after receiving the implant.

https://t.co/OMIeGGjYtGMarch 20, 2024

Neuralink has never been far from the news since its creation in 2016, not least because its founder, Elon Musk, never strays far from the headlines himself. Among recent controversies ranging from a workplace described as having a «culture of blame and fear» to some genuinely horrifying reports of animal testing