Elon Musk unveils clip of his first human patient implanted with Neuralink brain-chip using ‘telepathy’ to play chess on computer just by thinking

Elon Musk has shared stunning footage of the first person to use the Neuralink brain chip to control a computer mouse and play video games just by thinking. 

The groundbreaking patient, paraplegic man Noland Arbaugh, 29, was seen in a video shared to X using only his mind to play a game of chess. 

‘See that cursor on the screen? That’s all me… it’s all brainpower’ he said from his wheelchair. He said in the clip that he suffered a ‘freak diving accident’ eight years ago that left him paralyzed from the shoulders down. 

His successful use of the tech marks a breathtaking development and bolsters beliefs from experts that it could revolutionize care for the disabled. 

The disabled man, who said he suffered a freak diving accident eight years ago that left him wheelchair bound, successfully played chess online using only his mind 

Elon Musk has hailed the technology as a breathtaking step forward  

Arbaugh beamed with happiness throughout the clip, showing off the mouse moving side to side across the online chess board. 

Musk announced a month ago that the first person had the chip implanted, and said at the time that Arbaugh was ‘able to move a mouse around the screen just by thinking.’  

‘Progress is good and the patient seems to have made a full recovery, with neural effects that we are aware of,’ Musk said in a Spaces event on X.

Neuralink’s tech uses a robot to surgically place a brain-computer interface implant in a region of the brain that controls the intention to move.

The system consists of a computer chip attached to tiny flexible threads stitched into the brain by a ‘sewing-machine-like’ robot.

Musk said that the fitting procedure, which connects the thread-like electrodes to certain areas of the brain, takes just 30 minutes, does not require general anesthesia, and patients will be able to return home on the same day.

Arbaugh suffered his debilitating injury while working at a children’s camp in Texas in 2016, and said he has ‘absolutely no feeling’ from below his shoulders. 

He added that before his injury, he used to ‘love playing chess’, continuing: ‘This is one of the things that y’all have enabled me to do… I wasn’t really able to do much the last few years.’ 

In a GoFundMe from 11 months after his accident, it was said that Arbaugh had been struggling with his ‘lack of mobility.’ 

‘Noland is confined to a bulky electric wheelchair that he must take with him wherever he goes. The wheelchair, coupled with his condition, make traveling anywhere an ordeal,’ the fundraiser said. 

Noland Arbaugh was left paralyzed from the shoulders down eight years ago, and a fundraiser at the time said that he had been struggling with his ‘lack of mobility’