THE first human to have Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain chip was told not to worry about the monkeys who died while the chip was being tested.
Noland Arbaugh, 29, said he is 100 per cent sure the chip is safe despite the horror reports of animals dropping dead in previous trials.
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Earlier this year, Arbaugh became the first human patient who had the chip implanted in his brain after Musk announced his search for volunteers.
He is a quadriplegic who became paralysed from the neck down after a “freak diving accident” eight years ago that dislocated two of his vertebrae.
After the successful implant, a video surfaced of Arbaugh showing off his chess skills without ever touching the computer it is being hosted on.
In the most recent clip, he can be seen playing Mario Kart with his father – an activity he missed out on after the accident.
Having received FDA clearance for its first human clinical trials in May 2023, Ardaugh is the first of six individuals approved to test the chip after hundreds of animal tests.
Before allowing Musk’s team to cut into his skull, Ardaugh said he was reassured that the procedure was safe.
“I read a lot of the negative stuff about this before the surgery — about all the terrible things that [the company was] putting the monkeys through and how awful it was, monkeys like picking out their implant and rubbing it on the ground and all sorts of stuff,” he said.
Ardaugh was referring to allegations that Musk’s controversial project was subjecting monkeys to horrific suffering.
The claims described terrifying ordeal in which one monkey had holes drilled in its skull.
Neuralink’s brain chips were implanted in the monkeys’ heads to see if they could control technology with their thoughts.
However, the experiment allegedly left 15 out of 23 monkeys dead.
In one instance, a monkey was found missing some fingers and toes, possibly caused by self-mutilation, legal papers claim.
Another case revealed a female macaque monkey had the electrodes implanted into its brain, which caused it to be overcome with vomiting, retching and gasping.
An autopsy later showed the monkey suffered from a brain haemorrhage.
Bloody skin infections, monkeys collapsing and other horrific side effects were also recorded in the results, according to court papers.
But Ardaugh’s worries were put to rest after speaking with the company.
In a statement released in February, Neuralink defended its testing measures – but admitted several animals were euthanised.
It blamed animals losing their fingers as a result of fighting with other monkeys, rather than self mutilation.
Musk also denied any claims, posting on X: “No monkey has died as a result of a Neuralink implant.
“First, our early implants, to minimize risk to healthy monkeys, we chose terminal monkeys (sic) (close to death already).”
Arbaugh encouraged others to be unafraid should they want to support a mission like Neuralink’s.
“I’m glad I asked because now anyone that asks me about it I can just say ‘Y’all are a bunch of idiots,’ ” he said during his presentation at the company meeting.
Neuralink’s mission is to restore autonomy to individuals who have “unmet medical needs” allowing them to control their phone or another device with their thoughts.
“It makes — this is going to sound really kind of crazy — but it makes being paralyzed really not that bad,” Arbaugh said.
“Anything that makes me more independent I’m all for and this is probably going to make people like me the most independent that they might ever be until it all gets cured — and I think that’s a very real possibility,” he added.
HUMAN TEST SUBJECT CONTROVERSY
While Arbaugh is all smiles now, having more accessibility to tasks and recreation than he did before Neuralink, news of the chip being implanted in its first human subject was met with division.
In a speech at the company headquarters in December, Musk spoke about the speed at which Neuralink would move forward with human testing.
“We want to be extremely careful and certain that it will work before putting a device into a human,” he said.
“The progress at first, particularly as it applies to humans, will seem perhaps agonizingly slow, but we are doing all of the things to bring it to scale in parallel.”
In late January, Musk posted an announcement that Arbaugh’s procedure had been completed, bringing about mixed reactions from the public.
Many people had reservations about the technology moving to human subjects.
“The negative potential of this makes me very uneasy,” one person wrote in a reply to Musk’s X post.
“I’m terrified by the thought of it,” said another.
“The first cyborg has been born,” another person wrote.
Others, meanwhile, were astounded by the advancement and shared their excitement about seeing the results.
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“Well done Neuralink and Elon!! This might very well turn out to be an important moment in history,” wrote one user.
“This is awesome news, we’re expanding on the two final frontiers. Space and the mind, can’t wait for the next company talk. So excited!” another said.
