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Elon Musk's startup Neuralink said Wednesday that part of its brain implant malfunctioned after it put the system in a human patient for the first time.
Neuralink has built a brain-computer interface, or BCI, that could eventually help paralyzed patients control external technology using only their minds. The company's system, called Link, records nerve signals using 1,024 electrodes across 64 “threads” thinner than a human hair, according to its website.
In January, Neuralink implanted the device in a 29-year-old patient named Noland Arbaugh as part of a study to test its safety. The company streamed a live video with Arbo while he was using the BCI in March, and Neuralink said in a blog post in April that the surgery went “extremely well.”
But in the weeks that followed, a number of leads pulled out of Arbaugh's brain, Neuralink said in a blog post on Wednesday. This meant there were fewer effective electrodes, which hampered the company's ability to measure link speed and accuracy.
Neuralink did not reveal the number of threads that were pulled from the tissue. The company did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.
As a workaround, Neuralink said it has modified the scoring algorithm, enhanced the user interface and improved techniques for translating signals into cursor movements, the blog post said. Neuralink reportedly considered removing the implant, but the problem did not pose an immediate safety risk to Arbaugh, according to the Wall Street Journal, which previously reported on the issue. Neuralink shared its blog post after the magazine asked the company about the issue, according to the report.
Although some of the strands of Arbaugh's brain tissue have regressed, Neuralink said he uses the company's BCI system for eight hours a day during the week, and often up to 10 hours a day on weekends.
Arbo said the link was like a “luxurious overload,” and it helped him “reconnect with the world,” according to the blog post.
Neuralink isn't the only company building a BCI system, and the technology has been explored in academia for decades.
Neuralink has a long way to go through safety and efficacy testing before it is eligible for FDA approval to market the technology.
