Neuralink to implant second brain chip next week. Elon Musk says, ‘to give people super powers…’

Elon Musk's brain-computer startup Nerualink will implant its device into a second human patient in around a week, top company executives confirmed in a briefing on X. So far, Arizona-based Noland Arbaugh is the only person to receive the brain chip implant, but Musk says he hopes this number would go up into high single digits by the end of this year. 

Notably, Arbaugh had received the implant after being suffering an accident that paralyzed him shoulder down in 2016. The company had informed in May that tiny wires inside Arbaugh's had pulled out of position. However, during the the recent briefing, Musk said that the implant had become "more or less very stable".

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"We're only just moving now to our second Neuralink patient…But we hope to have, if things go well, high single digits this year." Musk said on Wednesday.

Neuralink executive Dongjin "D.J." Seo while speaking about the brain implant said (as quoted by Reuters), "Once you do the brain surgery it takes some time for the tissues to come in and anchor the threads in place, and once that happens, everything has been stable," 

Neuralink executives said that the company is taking risk mitigation measures like skull sculpting and reducing carbon dioxide concentration in blood to normal levels.

Meanwhile, Musk stated in Wednesday's briefing that the long term goal of Nerualink is to “mitigate the longer civilizational risk of AI”. He said Nerualink can help create a ‘a closer symbiosis between human intelligence and digital intelligence’.

Also Read | Musk’s Neuralink says tiny wires of brain chip in first patient now stable

What does Neuralink implant do? 

Neuralink's brain implant allows paralyzed patients the ability to use digital device using just their brain. The device works by taking advantage of tiny wires to capture signals from human brain and translating them into actions like moving a cursor on a computer screen, Reuters reported. 

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In the videos shared by Nerualink so far, Arbaugh had been able to play video games, browse the internet and move the cursor on his laptop without lifting a finger.