Noland Arbaugh, the first person to get a brain chip implant by Elon Musk’s Neuralink, has shared how the new technology has transformed his life 18 months after the surgery. Notably, Arbaugh had dislocated two of his vertebrae during a swimming accident in 2016 and thereafter lost sensation and movement below his shoulders.
Arbaugh had received the implant in 2024, when a surgical robot drilled a coin-sized hole in his skull and implanted the Neuralink chip, connecting its over 1,000 electrodes to the neurons in his brain. The device detects and decodes electrical signals in his brain and translates them into digital commands.
Through the brain-computer interface (BCI), Arbaugh is able to control his computer and do things like playing Mario Kart, controlling his television, and turning his air purifier on and off without moving other parts of his body.
In a new interaction with Fortune, Arbaugh talked about the transformative experience with the Neuralink device. He reportedly uses the device for about 10 hours a day to control his computer so that he can study, read, and game. Arbaugh has also enrolled in classes at his community college in Arizona and is also looking to start his own business, paid professional speaking engagements and live talks.
Arbaugh also talked about his condition before the surgery. He said, “I would stay up all night and sleep all day, and I didn’t really [want to] bother anyone or ruin any plans or get in the way of anything.”
“I just had no purpose… I was just kind of going through the motions, waiting for something to happen,” he added.
In the last 18 months, Arbaugh has gained a lot of autonomy that he had lost due to his disability and is now able to do more things for himself.
“I feel like I have potential again. I guess I always have had potential, but now I’m finding a way to fulfill that potential in meaningful ways. It’s a lot different,” he added.
Asked if he was worried about being the first patient in a clinical trial, Arbaugh stated that it was an easy decision for him. He said, “I decided that, even if it didn’t work—even if something went terribly wrong—I knew that it would help someone down the road.”
Everything wasn’t as easygoing all the time, though. Shortly after the surgery, some of the threads in his Neuralink device retracted, leading to Arbaugh losing much of the control he had over the device.
Arbaugh, however, didn’t speak publicly about the incident because he wanted the Neuralink team to figure out what had gone wrong and how to repair it, which they eventually did.
He says speaking at that time would have been “extremely rash of me, and it would have absolutely made people lose faith in the product,”
“Technically I am a cyborg because I have been enhanced by a ‘machine,’” Arbaugh joked.
“But I still see myself as a regular guy… But it’s fun to play around with,” he added.
