Billionaire Elon Musk, owner of the startup Neuralink, said the company has successfully implanted a chip into the brain of the second patient. This device helps paralyzed patients use digital devices just by thinking.

According to Reuters , Mr. Musk shared in a recent 8-hour video that the second participant suffered spinal cord injuries and was paralyzed in a diving accident.

The billionaire said the 400 electrodes implanted in the second patient’s brain are working. Neuralink claims on its website that its implant used 1,024 electrodes.

Mr. Musk did not disclose when Neuralink performed the surgery on the second patient. He hopes Neuralink will provide implants to eight more patients this year as part of clinical trials.

In January 2024, the first patient to undergo surgery to implant a Neuralink chip in his brain was Noland Arbaugh, 29. Arbaugh had to use a computer through a bar in his mouth to touch the screen. After being implanted with the device, he now only needs to think about what he wants to happen on the computer screen and Neuralink’s device will make it happen.

Arbaugh said the device has given him independence and reduced his dependence on caregivers.