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Elon Musk's medical implant firm Neuralink shared earlier today that there are 12 people worldwide who are now using its products. These people have cumulatively used their devices for 2,000 days and for 15,000 hours, in a crucial landmark for one of the few brain implant companies in the world, which has taken upon itself to cure everything from blindness to mental illness.
Neuralink Shares That 12 Patients Worldwide Are Using Its Products After First Patient Shares His Experience
Neuralink, whose products are officially dubbed Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs), is one of the few firms in the world that implants tiny chips inside a human brain. The firm has been in the news lately due to its first patient, Noland Arbaugh, giving an explosive interview to Fortune Magazine.
In the interview, Arbaugh shared that he was "playing catch-up for eight years of not doing anything" before he got Neuralink's implant. Arbaugh suffered from a swimming accident in 2016 and was paralyzed from the waist down. He received Neuralink's implant in 2014 and soon began playing video games and learning languages.
Now, it appears that Arbaugh is one of a dozen patients who have received Neuralink implants worldwide. In a social media post earlier today, Neuralink shared that 12 people in the world were using its brain implants. The firm added that these patients have used their devices cumulatively for 2,000 days and for 15,335 hours.
Neuralink's update follows the firm performing its first-ever surgery outside of the US earlier this month and in late August. On August 27th and on September 8th, Neuralink performed surgeries as part of a four-year clinical trial, the University Health Network (UHN), a Canadian hospital, outlined in a press release.
The clinical trial covering the surgeries is investigating whether Neuralink's implants can be used by quadriplegics to control devices through their thoughts.
Its Canadian trials aren't the only global trials that Elon Musk's brain implant company is conducting. The firm announced in July that it received approvals from British regulators to launch its GB-PRIME clinical study. This study will also evaluate how paralyzed individuals can use devices and interact with the digital world through their thoughts.
As has been the case with his other ventures, Elon Musk also has lofty goals for Neuralink. In a 2020 presentation, the executive shared that he eventually hopes to bring the cost of the brain chip and the associated implantation surgery to just a few thousand dollars. Neuralink has come a long way since then, after receiving the FDA's approval in 2023 to start human trials.
About the author: Ramish is a seasoned technology writer and editor with more than a decade of experience. He specializes in semiconductor fabrication and market analysis. With a background in finance and supply chain management - via his bachelors in Finance and a micromasters in supply chain management from MIT - Ramish combines financial rigor with deep industry insight to deliver accurate and authoritative coverage.
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