The first human test subject of Elon Musk's brain chip implant company Neuralink has developed a problem with the device a few weeks following its insertion, according to a May 9 report from CNN.
Noland Arbaugh, 29, became Neuralink's first human patient in January. Mr. Arbaugh suffered a spinal cord injury after a diving accident and lost all movement and sensation in his arms and legs.
The brain chip is designed to help people with spinal cord injuries and reportedly allowed Mr. Arbaugh to operate a computer and computer mouse using his mind.
The malfunction involved a number of the chip’s connective threads retracting from Mr. Arbaugh, which hindered the implant's speed and efficacy.
In the wake of the issue, Neuralink said it was able to make the implant more sensitive to solve the problem and increase the implant's performance even further, according to the report.
Ultimately, Neuralink aims to use implants to connect human brains to computers to help paralyzed individuals control smartphones or computers.