Neuralink: First Human Brain Implant

Noland Arbaugh becomes the first human to receive Neuralink's brain-computer interface, controlling a computer cursor by thought alone.

On January 28, 2024, Neuralink implanted its N1 brain-computer interface in Noland Arbaugh, a 29-year-old quadriplegic, as part of the PRIME (Precise Robotically Implanted Brain-Computer Interface) study. Within weeks, Arbaugh was playing chess, browsing the web, and streaming music using only his thoughts. The 1,024-electrode device, implanted by a surgical robot, reads neural signals from the motor cortex.

Key Numbers

Electrodes

1,024

Threads

64 (thinner than hair)

Patient

Noland Arbaugh (quadriplegic)

Verified Facts

• The N1 chip has 1,024 electrodes distributed across 64 ultra-thin threads (each thinner than a human hair), implanted by a custom surgical robot.
• Noland Arbaugh (Patient 1, "Nolan") was playing online chess and controlling his MacBook within 2 weeks of implantation.
• An issue of "thread retraction" was discovered—some electrode threads pulled back from their initial positions, reducing signal quality. Neuralink addressed this in Patient 2.
• This is Kurzweil's Epoch 5 in its earliest form: direct brain-to-machine communication. He predicted "nanobots connecting neocortex to the cloud by 2030s"—Neuralink is the crude precursor.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources & Further Reading

• Neuralink PRIME Study

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