Neuralink Patient Is Using His Brain Implant to Play ‘Counter-Strike 2’

A participant named “Alex” is the second person to receive a brain implant from Elon Musk’s brain technology startup Neuralink. After a spinal injury, Alex lost control of his limbs. But now with the Neuralink implant, he’s able to play Counter-Strike 2.

The procedure, done last month at Barrow Neurological Institute in Arizona, reportedly went smoothly and Alex’s recovery has been thankfully uneventful. The implant, known as the Link, is designed to improve digital device control for people with quadriplegia, aiming to restore their ability to use their appendages. 

And seeing as Alex racked up some kills in CS2, I’d say he’s doing pretty well, all things considered.

To control his character in-game, he uses a specialized mouth-operated Quadstick joystick designed for quadriplegics. So he moves around with the Quadstick and, incredibly, aims his weapons purely through thought.

Alex has also been exploring creative applications of the Link, like learning to use CAD software to design 3D objects. His first project was a custom mount for the Link’s charger, which he designed and 3D-printed. It’s a promising start that demonstrates the Link’s potential to allow its user to perform the kinds of complex tasks—and if achieving a sense of normalcy is a goal of this whole project, this seems like a tremendous step in the right direction.

To get to this point, Neuralink had to address some technical issues encountered with its first patient, Noland Arbaugh. Noland’s surgery was a success, but around 85% of the thread-based electrodes wired into his brain spontaneously “retracted,” which is Neuralink’s way of saying the electrical plugs in his brain came undone. Apparently, it’s a known issue with Neuralink’s wiring. Neuralink has apparently fixed these issues, for now at least.

For Alex, Neuralink implemented several improvements to prevent similar problems, such as reducing the gap between the implant and the brain’s surface and minimizing brain motion during surgery. These modifications have so far ensured that Alex’s implant remains fully operational without retraction.

Future developments, according to the company, include enhanced controls for full mouse and video game functionality, along with advancements that would let users interact with the physical world through robotic arms or powered wheelchairs.