The tussles between billionaires have seen vast fortunes splashed on everything from rocket ships to social media empires. But now, two titans of big tech are taking their fight to a frontier: The race to link our brains with AI. Tesla and xAI CEO Elon Musk and Sam Altman of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, are vying to be the first to connect mind and machine. The former allies are now both backing rival companies trying to build brain-computer-interface (BCI) chips and put them inside humans. These devices allow people to directly control computers with their thoughts by reading the electrical signals produced in the brain. As outspoken champions of the technology, both Mr Musk and Mr Altman claim that BCIs will one day allow humanity to merge with artificial intelligence.

British patients are set to receive Elon Musk's Neuralink brain chips as part of the first UK clinical trial. Neuralink is partnering with University College London Hospitals Trust and Newcastle Hospitals for the project, the company said in an announcement. Seven participants who cannot walk will be fitted with an implant about the size of a 10p coin, allowing them to control a smartphone with their mind. Those living with paralysis due to conditions such as spinal cord injuries and a nervous system disease called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis qualify for the study, the company revealed in a post on X. This comes after a paralysed woman in the US revealed the shocking effect the brain implant has already had on her life. Audrey Crews, who has been paralysed since she was 16, became one of five people in the US who have already been implanted with the brain chip.

First Neuralink brain implant patient Noland Arbaugh discusses his paralysis, his implant and more on'The Will Cain Show.' Elon Musk's Neuralink brain implants are designed to help individuals with disabilities -- and the implant's first user told Fox News on Friday about the revolutionary technology. Arizona native Noland Arbaugh, the first Neuralink brain implant patient, joined "The Will Cain Show" to discuss how the device has helped him regain control of his life. "I'm just beyond grateful," Arbaugh told Fox News host Will Cain. "It's an incredible privilege to be a part of this." Elon Musk shows off his t-shirt reading "Tech Support" while speaking at the first Cabinet meeting hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump, at the White House in Washington, D.C., Feb. 26, 2025.

In November, a young man named Noland Arbaugh announced he'd be livestreaming from his home for three days straight. His broadcast was in some ways typical fare: a backyard tour, video games, meet mom. The difference is that Arbaugh, who is paralyzed, has thin electrode-studded wires installed in his brain, which he used to move a computer mouse on a screen, click menus, and play chess. The implant, called N1, was installed last year by neurosurgeons working with Neuralink, Elon Musk's brain-interface company. Arbaugh's livestream is an indicator that Neuralink is a whole lot closer to creating a plug-and-play experience that can restore people's daily ability to roam the web and play games, giving them what the company has called "digital freedom." But this is not yet a commercial product.

Ian Burkhart was a 19-year-old college student enjoying a day out with friends in 2010 when he dove into the water off North Carolina's Outer Bank, hit bottom, and broke his neck. He wound up paralyzed below the elbows, unable to walk or to control his wrists or fingers. The accident did not end his story, though, because just four years later he became the first person to undergo a procedure aimed at restoring movement to his hands. Researchers at The Ohio State University opened his skull and implanted an array of 96 electrodes into his brain. The electrodes recorded the neural activity that occurred when Burkhart imagined moving his hand, and sent that information along wires to a computer outside his head.

Elon Musk's brain implant company Neuralink announced on Tuesday that it is launching a study to test its implant for a new use: allowing a person to control a robotic arm using just their thoughts. "We're excited to announce the approval and launch of a new feasibility trial to extend BCI control using the N1 implant to an investigational assistive robotic arm," Neuralink said in a post on Musk's social media platform X. A BCI, or brain-computer interface, is a system that allows a person to directly control outside devices with their brain waves. It works by reading and decoding intended movement signals from neurons. Neuralink's BCI involves a coin-sized device dubbed N1 that is surgically implanted in the brain by a robot.

A trip to a Pennsylvania lake turned into a tragedy for one man who was left paralyzed after running into the water for a swim. Noland Arbaugh, 29, recalls being hit on the side of the head by another person, leaving him unable to move his body from the shoulders down when he woke up face down in the lake. The 2016 accident led him on a journey to become Neuralink's patient zero this year, which saw him receive a brain implant that lets him control computers and other devices. 'I was a little worried it wouldn't work because [that could happen] with the first of anything, but I wanted to be the first to test all of that out,' he said in an interview on The Kim Komando Show. 'If anyone was going to go through it, to experience the downsides, I wanted to take that on as much as possible to help people after me.'

Elon Musk claims Neuralink has implanted a second human volunteer with its experimental N1 brain-computer interface (BCI) and that it's "working very well." But like the coin-sized device within the company's first patient, only a fraction of the electrodes are reportedly functioning properly. "I don't want to jinx it but it seems to have gone extremely well with the second implant," Neuralink's CEO said during an August 2 podcast interview with computer scientist, Lex Fridman. "A lot of electrodes" is arguably a relative number, however. During his lengthy conversation with Fridman, Musk clarified that while initial results appear "so far, so good," he estimates only roughly 400 of the BCI's 1,024 electrodes surgically implanted into the user's motor cortex are currently providing signals.

Neuralink's brain chip has been implanted into a second patient as part of early human trials, Elon Musk told podcast host Lex Fridman on Saturday. The company hasn't disclosed when the surgery took place or the name of the recipient, according to Reuters. Musk said 400 of the electrodes on the second patient's brain are working out of 1,024 implanted. "I don't want to jinx it but it seems to have gone extremely well," he said. The device allows patients with spinal cord injuries to play video games, use the internet and control electronic devices using their thoughts alone.

Neuralink has successfully implanted in a second patient its device designed to give paralyzed patients the ability to use digital devices by thinking alone, according to the startup's owner Elon Musk. Neuralink is in the process of testing its device, which is intended to help people with spinal cord injuries. The device has allowed the first patient to play video games, browse the internet, post on social media and move a cursor on his laptop. Musk, in comments made during a podcast released late on Friday that ran more than eight hours, gave few details about the second participant beyond saying the person had a spinal cord injury similar to the first patient, who was paralyzed in a diving accident. Musk said 400 of the implant's electrodes on the second patient's brain are working.