after several incidents with the first patient that caused the neuralink chip to lose 85% of its signals must officially confirm that the company has completed the implant on the second patient with unexpected success many changes have been made for the second patient and the new generation of the implant device is it safe in the long term and are there risks after the chip improvements find out now neuralink second human trials after the successful testing on the first patient noan arbaugh it's been more than 7 months now and we finally heard brand new news about the
second patient Elon Musk shared the results of the new chip implant in a recent 8 hour video as we know the second patient suffered a spinal cord injury and was paralyzed in an accident it's not too difficult to see the second patient also had a similar condition to Nolan arbau the guy was paralyzed after a driving accident and neuralink is thought to be giving him a second life like Nolan arba in the first few weeks after the successful implementation Elon did not rush to reveal the patient's identity therefore in a conversation with Le fredman very
little info about the patient was mentioned musk said I don't want to jinx it but it seems to have gone extremely well with a second implant there's a lot of signal a lot of electrodes is working very well clearly there have been changes in the redesign of neural links implant device after learning from some issues encountered with Nolan arbot the first generation chip included 64 threads each thinner than a human hair with 16 electrodes per thread totaling 1,24 electrodes incredible however the chip for this second patient seems to be even more effective to increase bandwidth
and avoid electrodegradation on the threads Elon stated that the nextg implant device will have 128 threads but each thread will only have eight electrodes this change he said could potentially double the bandwidth if the thread positions are accurately identified on top of that the threads for the second patient will be implanted at a deeper level compared to Nolan arbau the electrodes connecting to the CeX will be implanted 8 mm deep from the brain surface instead of the previous depth of 3 to 5 mm according to our info implanting the threads deeper helps secure them more
firmly addressing those issues that we learned from the retraction of threads on the brain which led to a loss of 85% of the threads and a reduction in Signal detection additionally deeper implantation means that even if the threads were racts slightly the electrodes are still going to be deep enough within the brain to remain functional and detect neuronal activity now while it's not clear whether impacting the brain at a greater depth poses a bigger risk to the patient it is evident that patient number two must endure more significant damage compared patient number one for the
second patient neuralink team also learned that residual air pockets in the brain are a major cause of the threads on the chipped retracting explaining this neuralink head neurosurgeon Matthew McDougall said during any typical brain SE surgery a small amount of hair is introduced into the skull that's because neurosurgeons like to have as much room as possible around the brain that air pocket we think may have contributed to eating up some of the thread slack as the air bubble migrated to be under the implant pushing the brain away from the implant McDougall explained in response neuralink
team wants to keep the second patient's carbon dioxide levels in a normal range during surgery to prevent the brain from expanding or retracting the company plans on better sculpting the implant to prevent a gap from appearing under the skull that will put the implant closer to the brain and eliminate some of the tensions on the threads McDougall mentioned neuralink had planned to perform a brain chimp implant surgery on a second patient back in June but the plan got canceled due to medical issues the surgery then took place quietly and only became known when Elon revealed
it in a recent interview so what did Elon Musk say about the results on that second patient as mentioned above although Second Generation ship got tweaked it still ended up with a Max of 1,2 four electrodes with a latest sharing from Elon he said that there are 400 active electrodes implanted on this second patient's brain this means that the chip has not yet achieved the maximum 1,24 electrodes but only achieved 40% and only about 50% threads are going to be active right now on the second patient's brain previously no one the first person to get
a neuralink implant shared that although some of the electrodes had previously migrated out of his brain and were now just about 15% function nurlink has since then restored the Chip's functionality through some software tweaks even with only 10 to 15% of his electrodes functioning no arba was still able to break his previous world record for Speed and accuracy in controlling a cursor with a BCI musk said according to Nolan if future patients in the trial can get to 100% or 90% of the electrodes to work they'll be able to accomplish tasks that he can't do
now offering great hope for our future thus the initial result of 4 100 functioning electrodes in the second patient is extremely promising awesome the disconnection of threads from the cortex would undoubtedly impact ARA's ability to connect to and control Machinery now to address this issue nurlink has implanted a step to increase the sensitivity of the brain wave recognition algorithm for the bci's chip operation this adjustment aims to eliminate the need for surgery to correct or reconnect the electrodes in Threads that have detached from the patient's brain neuralink even claimed that by improving the algo that
translates brain waves into commands for controlling a computer cursor on the BCI chip the user's experience arbas in this case will be significantly enhanced the data bandwidth sent to the computer for control purposes is expected to increase compared to the initial days right after surgery musk describes neural Link's next steps as gigantic predicting that in the coming years the company will significantly increase the number of electrodes and enhance signal processing the electrodes which are a big component of the impact collect brain cells and then route them to the electronic devices within the implant the devices
process and wirelessly transmit neural data to a version of the neuralink app that runs on an external device like a computer how did the implantation for the second patient proceed in fact the new generation of implants has improved but the implantation process hasn't changed much from the first patient except for the depth of the invasion and the number of invasive threads according to McDougall once surgeons cut that skin on the top of the head they flap it open kind of like opening the hood of a car make a 1 in round diameter in the skull
remove that bit of the skull open the lining of the brain and then show that part of the brain to the neuralink robot this is where the robot shines he said it can come in and take out these tiny things much smaller than human hair electrodes and then precisely insert them into the cord into the surface of the brain into a very precise depth in a very precise spot that avoids all the blood vessels that are coating the surface of the brain and after the robot's done with this part then the human comes back in
and puts the implant into that hole in the skull and then covers it up screwing it down to the skull and sewing the skin back together so the whole thing takes a few hours during the procedure surgeons make a cut in the skin on the top of the head over the area of the brain that's the most potent representation of hand intentions according to McDougall if you an expert concert pianist this part of your brain is lighten up the entire time you're playing he said we call it a hand knob even quadriplegic patients whose brains
aren't connected to their finger movements anymore still imagine finger movements and this knob part of the brain still lights up the neurosurgeon said neurolinks upcoming implant plans despite those issues the company says it has more than 1,000 volunteers ready for upcoming surgical trials musk says he hopes to reach his goal of implanting his chip into eight more patients by the of the year but that's still subject to regulatory approval it's hard to believe but neuralink accelerating its efforts to maximize efficiency and restore function to thousands of patients remember the blindsight product that Elon talked about
on X this is also part of neural Link's upcoming plans and could very well be used in the next day patients some may have heard of blind sight but others might not know about it musk wrote on X that blindsight is the next neuralink product after telepathy as the name of the implant blindsight is an attempt to restore to Blind patients even those who are born blind the company is still in the process of testing this product on animals to get the best evaluation before applying it to humans fair enough in reality restoring Vision with
a neuralink chip will be more challenging than typical cases of paralyses because as you know the eyes are a pretty sensitive organ that's connected to the back part of the brain that allows us to see blind sight will primarily Target the area at the back of the brain known as the visual cortex to stimulate the neurons to function again the 10,24 electrodes from The Blindside chip will directly stimulate nerve cells in the retinal structure this stimulation mimics light signals helping the brain form images the brain will then process the signals from the neuralink device to
create images now the truth is these images may not be as clear as normal vision which is almost impossible but they do help blind people recognize objects and their surroundings muskus shared about this that resolution is going to be low at first kind of like early Nintendo Graphics But ultimately May exceed normal human Vision if internal stimulation becomes ineffective neuralink could potentially transmit external images to the patient's brain in this case the patient might need to wear a digital camera kind of like a GoPro in this way the camera device would wirelessly transmit data via
Bluetooth to a mobile device the phone would then convert the image data into neural signals which are then embedded back into the neuralink chip the chip would subsequently send those neural signals to the brain allowing you to see the images displayed on the phone of course this scenario would be quite challenging and would require extensive research in time it does sound a lot like virtual reality doesn't it before ABA got his implant in January he used a mouth stick to interact with a tablet screen he stated that with the implant he can now simply think
about what he wants to happen on the computer screen and the device makes it a reality he mentioned the device has given him a bit more Independence and reduced his Reliance on caregivers after noan was imp planet with a nuring chip his life changed and he achieved things he thought he would never be able to do under his current circumstances the second patient expected to perform even better than no one as the neuralink team has gained experience and lessons to avoid errors compared to the first implantation Elon has stated that neuralink brain implants will be
the best way for humans to integrate and compete with Advanced AI systems in the future imagine if Steven Hawking could communicate faster than a speed typist or an Auctioneer that's the goal musk posted to his social media platform X in January 2024 musk has promoted neuralink as a technology that could facilitate a symbiosis between humans and AI in the future in his conversation with fredman musk mentioned that the neuralink chip might be the best way to prevent AI from surpassing humans and going rogue in a Terminator likee scenario musk said neuralink devices would eventually be
able to repair damaged neurons to help people with problems like blindness and paralysis it can also solve probably schizoph if people are having seizures of some kind Elon said on the podcast it could possibly solve that it could help with the memory he added that neural Link's aim isn't just about giving people a neurological damage a full range of communication but to enhance their already natural abilities he even suggested that a person using neuralink might eventually have Vision that's higher resolution than human eyes must compared Vision enhancements with nuring to the visor worn by the
character lefores wore a thin visor over his eyes that that allowed him to see by reading the electromagnetic field and then sending inputs into his brain do you want to see it in a radar no problem Elon said you could see ultraviolet infrared Eagle Vision whatever you want musk said solving issues like neuron damage is the first baby step to getting neuralink to a point where it could do more complex things like communicating with AI systems however we anticipate that neuralink will continue to face numerous issues in the future as the number of trial patients
increase just this year nerling been in involved in two major controversies that have brought the company a lot of criticism in June a former employee sued Nur lank accusing the company of having a discriminatory and hostile work environment the employee shared that they were not provided with proper protective equipment while working with a monkeys used in nerling device testing and claimed that a monkey carrying the herpes bee virus scratched her through her gloves following this there was the issue with the death of a large number of animals during research which Nolan arbau confirmed as a
necessary sacrifice earlier in 2022 the Animal Rights group Physicians committee for responsible medicine accused the company of torturing monkeys during trials as Ambitions for this technology grow musk will need to reduce the current risks associated with N1 and ensure that his brain chip is successfully used by thousands of patients Nur Link's second successful chip implantation signifies a major leap in neurotechnology and its potential to transform medical treatment for paralysis and other neurological disorders the improvements in the chip design and surgical procedure demonstrate the company's commitment to refining and advancing its technology by addressing these initial
challenges and demonstrating promising early results neuralink is Paving the way for future breakthroughs that could fundamentally change how we understand and treat neurological conditions this technology might even eventually they offer enhanced cognitive abilities and more profound interactions between humans and machines highlighting the transformative potential of brain computer interfaces or BCI for short now we want to ask you the YouTube viewer what do you think about nuring and their latest update on the second patient participating in the trial please let us know your opinions and your comments Down Below in the comment section with that we
hope you learned a lot more about neuralink second human trials after watching our episode if you did we humbly ask to please press that like button and join the Tesla caror family by subscribing to our Channel and you'll never miss out on any of our awesome videos once you hit that Bell icon we value your feedback and the time you spent watching this video thank you so much for watching and we hope to see you back here soon until then take care stay safe and God bless [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]
