Neuralink patient confirms he's playing World of Warcraft with his mind

A Neuralink patient who has spent more than 100 days with his brain-computer interface (BCI) has said he can run around Azeroth in World of Warcraft with just his brain, and after 100 days, it feels completely normal.

British Army veteran Jon Noble took to X to share a lengthy paragraph about his experience with the BCI, specifically the Neuralink N1 implant. According to Noble, the surgery on Day 0 was "surprisingly easy," with practitioners providing Noble with a general anaesthetic, which was followed by a small incision and then the insertion of the N1 implant. The implant was placed into Noble's motor cortex, with each of the 1,024 ultra-thin threads inserted by the "robotic system".

Noble woke up from the surgery and was able to go home the next day, and by Day 3 he was "feeling a lot better," and by Day 7 the little scar on his head was already beginning to fade. According to Noble, "the real fun started in Week 2" when Noble paired the Neuralink with his MacBook. After calibration was complete, Noble was able to move the cursor just by thinking where he wanted it to go. Noble writes that by Week 3, moving the cursor became "second nature".

Day 80 is when Noble opened up World of Warcraft for the first time, and said after some growing pains with the controls, the BCI was able to create "pure magic". "I'm now raiding, and exploring Azeroth hands-free at full speed - no mouse, no keyboard, just intention. It's honestly brilliant. The freedom is addictive," wrote Noble.