In January last year, Noland Arbaugh received brain surgery and became the first tester of Neuralink, a brain chip company in billionaires of Elon Musk. He accepted the magazine "Famous" interview and said that the brain interface device has completely changed his life for more than a year. He started classes and is planning to start a business.
I’ll try not to intimidate them with my superior computing. pic.twitter.com/eTUCw2G2OU
— Noland Arbaugh (@ModdedQuad) September 6, 2024
Albert suffered from a swimming accident in 2016 and suffered from a scam. In January last year, he received surgery in Phoenix, Arizona, and implanted a brain chip developed by Neuralink for many years and experienced animal experiments into his brain. The surgery robot took less than 2 hours to connect thousands of ultra-fine guides to his brain, allowing him to control his computer and device with his mind.
Therefore, he can power or turn on the air cleaner without wiping his fingers or other parts of his body.
Around 80 people around the world have installed devices of the same type from different companies. After Al-Jean, eight more people continued to join Neuralink clinical trials, including one woman, and all the surgery was performed in hospitals in the United States.
Albert recently visited the Fortune magazine, pointed out that this device has completely changed his life; he used it to control his computer for learning, reading, powering and handling routines for about 10 hours a day.
He said that he had no destination before surgery; now he has chosen classes at community colleges in Arizona, where he is studying the courses for neuroscience; at the same time, he is planning to start a career and intends to speak professionally.
He said that over the past year or so, he regained his autonomy he lost due to illness: "I think I have always had the potential, but now I have found a meaningful way to realize it, which is really different."
Since Noland Arbaugh became the first Neuralink patient in January 2024, there have been eight more individuals, including one woman, to enroll in the company’s ongoing clinical trials. https://t.co/c2ZYlqG90A pic.twitter.com/oWPNBBBsHx
— FORTUNE (@FortuneMagazine) August 24, 2025
Despite the risk that the first examiner was at risk, Alvin said that he had never thought about whether it would succeed, "even if it didn't succeed, even if something really bad happened, I know that this will help someone in the future."
Arvine described: "Seriously, I am a cyborg because I was strengthened by a machine, but I still regard myself as an ordinary person." The cyborg is intended to be a person whose body is transformed by technology.
However, in the past, some people still criticized Neuralink's brain interface technology for being more invasive. Neuralink founder and billionaire Mask said that the company is very cautious about the Neuralink devices installed on humans, so it has not promoted this technology at a faster pace.