With his brain implant, Neuralink's first user is "constantly multitasking."

Noland Arbaugh was swimming in a lake in 2016 when he sustained a spinal cord injury. Though the specifics are hazy, he recalls racing with his pals toward the water, plunging in, and striking his head on someone or something. Unable to move, he drifted to the surface. Later, medical professionals determined that he was paralyzed from the neck down. After graduating from college and being independent, Arbaugh moved back in with his parents and became dependent on them for everything. Despite learning how to use a wheelchair and a mouth-held stick to control an iPad, he found that feeling like a burden to his family was the most difficult adjustment.

Elon Musk also cofounded the brain implant company Neuralink in 2016. As part of a clinical trial, Arbaugh was the first individual to get the company's experimental technology, called Telepathy, in January of this year. It is referred to as a brain-computer interface, or BCI, and it converts intended brain movement impulses into computer commands. Arbaugh only needs to visualize dragging the cursor over his laptop's screen to make it move.

The experimental gadget has made Arbaugh, who is thirty years old, feel more independent. Before, someone had to hold him upright while he used a mouth-stick. It had to be picked up for him if he dropped his mouth-stick. Additionally, he had to use it quickly to avoid getting sores. With the Neuralink gadget, he can virtually take over a computer. He has broken the human record for cursor control with a BCI, and he is able to surf the web and play video games anytime he pleases, according to Neuralink.

Arbaugh is not the first beneficiary of a brain-computer interface (BCI); Nathan Copeland, for example, has had one for nine years. A number of other businesses, in addition to Neuralink, are attempting to market BCIs to assist individuals with paralysis, mental health issues, and even blindness.

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