Noland Arbaugh is the first person to receive a Neuralink brain implant. He recently did a live stream on the social media platform X to show off the device's capabilities, controlling a computer using only his brain.

Arbaugh, 29, who was paralyzed from the shoulders down in a car accident eight years ago, appears to be using his Neuralink brain implant for more than moving a mouse cursor. In the stream, he talked about using this connection to play online chess matches and the popular strategy game Civilization.

Arbaugh also talked about the intuitive feeling of using his mind to move the mouse cursor. He said, "I think I can now intuitively move my right hand left, right, forward, backward, and imagine the cursor moving from there."

The stream was relatively short, about nine minutes, but it gave the audience enough time to imagine how a device like the Neuralink brain implant could completely change the lives of people with paralysis.

From the outside looking in, it all seems magical. And for users like Arbaugh, it's even more special. As he explained, "I can't even begin to describe how cool it is to be able to do this."

Human trials have only recently begun, as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allowed the company, which he co-founded with Elon Musk, to begin testing last year. In the fall, the company began recruiting paralyzed participants to test its technology, and Arbaugh became the first person to demonstrate the device's function inside a human body.

The chip is implanted in the user's brain using a surgical robot developed by Neuralink for exactly this purpose. While this may sound scary, Arbaugh said, "I don't think there's anything to be scared of. The surgery was super easy. I was literally able to leave the hospital a day later."

In January, Mask posted on X that Arbaugh was recovering well. He followed that up in February, stating that he was fully recovered and able to use his thoughts to control his computer. The shared stream confirmed the billionaire's claims.

While the surgery and recovery appear to have gone well, Arbaugh acknowledged that the fight is not over and that work remains. 'I don't want people to think this is the end of my journey. There is a lot of work to be done. But my life has already changed."

Besides Arbaugh, it is not known how many other subjects are using Neuralink's brain implants. The company is not registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, so unless the company announces that number itself, there is no way to know how many have participated and how they are recovering.