Neuralink has been quietly increasing the number of patients with its N1 brain implant. According to the Barrow Neurological Institute, seven people have now received one.
The implant allows those with cervical spinal cord injuries or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to control a computer with their thoughts. In a February 2025 update, Neuralink confirmed that three people had received its brain-computer interface (BCI). That increased to five by June, when it also reported a $650 million funding round. We’re now at seven, Barrow tweeted today; Neuralink retweeted that message.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Six of the seven are participating in the PRIME study, conducted by Barrow, which handles the implantations from its Phoenix, Arizona, office. It aims to prove that the N1 implant, the R1 surgical robot, and the N1 User App on the computer are safe and effective, according to the program brochure. (No BCIs have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.)
‘I Am Constantly Finding Ways to Improve My Life’
Participants in the study get the implant through a surgery in which a custom-built robotic arm drills a hole in their skull and implants the device. The implant connects to a computer via Bluetooth, allowing patients to move the cursor, select words to type, browse the web, and even play video games—a favorite activity of Neuralink’s first human patient, Noland Arbaugh, who can do this all without moving any limbs or fingers.
A robotic arm performs brain surgery to install the implant. (Credit: Neuralink)
“I’m literally just thinking, ‘I want the cursor to go over this part of the keyboard and select the key,’” Arbaugh told PCMag in a recent interview. “I haven’t been playing nearly as many video games as I did at the beginning. I am constantly finding ways to improve my life and provide for myself financially. That involves a lot of emails, website editing, writing stuff up, researching, banking, housekeeping—just being an adult trying to find some way to make it through life.”
Get Our Best Stories!
Your Daily Dose of Our Top Tech News
By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Thanks for signing up!
Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!
Noland Arbaugh, Neuralink’s first patient (Credit: Noland Arbaugh)
But there are some limitations. “Cursor control is at 90% of where I want it to be, and there are some video games I would like to play, but I can’t yet.” Still, it’s “been the journey of a lifetime,” Arbaugh says. It’s changed his outlook on life, and also given him the conviction that one day everyone will have a BCI who wants one. “That’ll take us to a whole new place, as far as like, human development, societal development, as long as we move forward in a responsible way.”
Arbaugh, now 31, became paralyzed during a diving accident. Other Neuralink patients include Alex, a former machine parts builder who lost function of his arms and uses his N1 Implant to design 3D machine parts with computer-aided design (CAD). The third patient is Brad, the first person with ALS to receive the N1 implant, according to Barrow.
Recommended by Our Editors
Layers of the Neuralink implant (Credit: Neuralink)
Mike is the fourth patient, and “the first person with a full-time job to use the N1 Implant,” Barrow says. “He worked as a survey technician for city government and spent the majority of his time in the field until his ALS made the work too difficult. Like Alex, Mike has used CAD software with his Neuralink device to continue doing survey work from home and provide for his family.”
The fifth publicly named patient is RJ, who is featured on the Neuralink homepage. The other two patients remain anonymous, but we can expect Neuralink to continue recruiting more people (here’s how to apply).
The company, led by Elon Musk, is competing against several other BCI startups, such as Echo and Synchron. The latter’s device is implanted in 10 people, and will soon become the first to have a Bluetooth connection to Apple devices. Unlike the Neuralink device, Synchron’s does not drill into the skull and sit on the brain. It inserts into a vein above the brain. Each company has its own method, but the same focus on improving the quality of life for those with severe disabilities.
About Emily Forlini
Senior Reporter
