Elon Musk says Neuralink is looking for a 2nd participant for its brain implant
Elon Musk said Neuralink is accepting applications for the second person to get a brain implant.
Noland Arbaugh became the first person to have the device implanted earlier this year.
Neuralink reportedly wants to have thousands of people using its device by the end of the decade.
Elon Musk's Neuralink is ready to put its chip in another person's head.
He said that the brain implant startup wa now searching for the second person to receive Neuralink's "Telepathy" implant, after the device was successfully implanted into its first patient earlier this year.
"Neuralink is accepting applications for the second participant. This is our Telepathy cybernetic brain implant that allows you to control your phone and computer just by thinking," Musk posted on X.
"No one better than Noland (Arbaugh) himself to tell you about the first," he added.
Neuralink, which received permission last year to begin human trials, unveiled the first recipient of its brain implant in March.
30-year-old Noland Arbaugh, who was paralyzed from the neck down after a diving accident, described the neural interface at the time as "life-changing," allowing him to surf the web, post on social media, and play video games using thought alone.
Neuralink was kind enough to open their doors for me to tour their headquarters a few weeks back. It was an amazing experience and a day I'll never forget. This was at a company wide meeting at the end of the day. Thank you to everyone who made this possible. Hope y'all enjoy!… pic.twitter.com/YNa2Jtjhnk
— Noland Arbaugh (@ModdedQuad) March 22, 2024
However, Neuralink's first human trial didn't go completely smoothly. The company said last week that some of the tiny threads the device uses to interface with the brain, each thinner than a human hair, moved out of position a few weeks after the surgery.
The malfunction rendered the implant less effective, and the company reportedly considered removing it completely.
Arbaugh told Bloomberg he "cried a little bit" when he began noticing a delay between his thoughts and the computer cursor.
Neuralink said in a blog post that it made tweaks to Arbaugh's implant, enabling it to work effectively again.
The startup may not struggle to attract applicants for its latest human trial. Thousands of people reportedly expressed interest in having part of their skull removed and a brain chip inserted when Neuralink began recruiting last September.
It's reportedly planning to operate on 11 people this year and is targeting more than 22,000 users by 2030, Bloomberg reported.
Neuralink did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.
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