Neuralink's First Human Patient Noland Arbaugh Plays Chess With His Mind. Two Weeks Later, 85% of the Electrode Threads Retract From His Brain Tissue. Neuralink: 'Performance Partially Restored Via Software.' He Is Still Grateful.

Jan 2024: Neuralink implants its N1 chip in Arizona quadriplegic Noland Arbaugh. He plays Civilization VI and beats his dad at chess using telepathy. By May, Neuralink quietly discloses that 85% of the 64 hair-thin electrode threads have pulled out of his cortex. They claim they recovered bandwidth via 'improved signal processing algorithms.' Arbaugh livestreams on X saying he loves the device. FDA documents later reveal the same thread retraction happened in monkey trials years earlier.