Neuralink Shows Quadriplegic Playing Chess with Brain Implant

Elon Musk's Neuralink startup designed a surgical robot to implant devices into brains to link them to computers. Neuralink/AFP
Elon Musk's Neuralink startup designed a surgical robot to implant devices into brains to link them to computers. Neuralink/AFP
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Neuralink Shows Quadriplegic Playing Chess with Brain Implant

Elon Musk's Neuralink startup designed a surgical robot to implant devices into brains to link them to computers. Neuralink/AFP
Elon Musk's Neuralink startup designed a surgical robot to implant devices into brains to link them to computers. Neuralink/AFP

Neuralink on Wednesday streamed a video of its first human patient playing computer chess with his mind and talking about the brain implant making that possible.
Noland Arbaugh, 29, who was left paralyzed from the shoulders down by a diving accident eight years ago, told of playing chess and the videogame "Civilization" as well as taking Japanese and French lessons by controlling a computer screen cursor with his brain, said AFP.
"It's crazy, it really is. It's so cool," said Arbaugh, who joked of having telepathy thanks to Elon Musk's Neuralink startup.
Musk's neurotechnology company installed a brain implant in its first human test subject in January, with the billionaire head of Tesla and X touting it as a success.
Arbaugh said he was released from the hospital a day after the device was implanted in his brain, and that he had no cognitive impairment as a result.
"There is a lot of work to be done, but it has already changed my life," he said.
"I don't want people to think this is the end of the journey."
He told of starting out by thinking about moving the cursor and eventually the implant system mirrored his intent.
"The reason I got into it was because I wanted to be part of something that I feel is going to change the world," he said.
Arbaugh said he plans to dress up this Halloween as Marvel Comics X-Men character Charles Xavier, who is wheelchair-bound but possesses mental superpowers.
"I'm going to be Professor X," he said.
"I think that's pretty fitting... I'm basically telekinetic."
A Neuralink engineer in the video, which was posted on X and Reddit, promised more updates regarding the patient's progress.
"I knew they started doing this with human patients, but it's another level to actually see the person who has one in," one Reddit user commented.
"Really crazy, impressive and scary all at once."
Neuralink's technology works through a device about the size of five stacked coins that is placed inside the human brain through invasive surgery.
The startup, cofounded by Musk in 2016, aims to build direct communication channels between the brain and computers.
The ambition is to supercharge human capabilities, treat neurological disorders like ALS or Parkinson's, and maybe one day achieve a symbiotic relationship between humans and artificial intelligence.
Musk is hardly alone in trying to make advances in the field, which is officially known as brain-machine or brain-computer interface research.



‘Assassin’s Creed’ Maker Ubisoft Says Regularly Reviews Options after Buyout Report

This photograph taken on February 13, 2024, shows logo of Ubisoft video firm company adorn the main entrance of the company, where a strike call is planned on February 14, 2024, in Montpellier, south of France. (AFP)
This photograph taken on February 13, 2024, shows logo of Ubisoft video firm company adorn the main entrance of the company, where a strike call is planned on February 14, 2024, in Montpellier, south of France. (AFP)
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‘Assassin’s Creed’ Maker Ubisoft Says Regularly Reviews Options after Buyout Report

This photograph taken on February 13, 2024, shows logo of Ubisoft video firm company adorn the main entrance of the company, where a strike call is planned on February 14, 2024, in Montpellier, south of France. (AFP)
This photograph taken on February 13, 2024, shows logo of Ubisoft video firm company adorn the main entrance of the company, where a strike call is planned on February 14, 2024, in Montpellier, south of France. (AFP)

Ubisoft, the maker of the "Assassin's Creed", "Far Cry" and "Watch Dogs" video games, said on Monday it regularly reviewed "all its strategic options", but declined further comment on a recent report of buyout interest.

France's largest video games maker has long been seen as a takeover target and has lost half of its stock market value over the last twelve months. It has been plagued by delays and the underperformance of some of its key titles.

Ubisoft said in a statement that it would inform the market if and when appropriate. A spokesperson for the company declined to comment further when asked by Reuters whether the company had received any approach from potential bidders.

Monday's statement followed a report last week by Bloomberg News that Ubisoft's founding family, the Guillemots, and Chinese tech giant Tencent, were considering a buyout.

Shares in Ubisoft initially rose by up to 6% on Monday after the statement, topping the SBF 120 index, but reversed course and were down 1.8% at 0905 GMT.

The Guillemot family and Tencent together hold close to 25% of Ubisoft's share capital, LSEG data shows, after a deal in 2022 that saw the Chinese group acquire close to half of the Guillemots' holding.

The move capped a difficult period at Ubisoft, marked by a succession of delays of new video games and management changes.

Ubisoft's stock price slipped further last month after weaker-than-expected quarterly sales.

An underwhelming start for its new game "Star Wars Outlaws" followed the postponement of the launch of "Assassin’s Creed Shadows" by three months to February.

Ubisoft had hoped the two games would help turn around its performance as it implements cost cuts to manage its debt.