Elon Musk’s Neuralink faces defect in first brain implant

Elon Musk-owned neurotechnology firm Neuralink has disclosed that its brain-computer implant (BCI) malfunctioned weeks after Noland Arbaugh, a 29-year-old accident victim, received the device early this year as part of an FDA-authorized study.

The trial, named PRIME, is designed to evaluate the performance of BCI, which Neuralink expects will one day help patients with neurological conditions control external devices such as computers only with their thoughts.

The company said that Arbaugh, who was the first to receive the device, had several threads come out of his brain implant weeks after the surgery.

The defect had reduced bits per second, which is a standard Neuralink has used to measure the device’s speed and accuracy. The company had taken corrective actions, including changes to the recording algorithm, which it said had improved BPS.

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and SpaceX (SPACE), hailed Arbaugh in March after the Arizona native, who had become paralyzed from the shoulders down due to a 2016 driving accident, posted on his X platform using the device for the first time.