Not long ago, the idea of playing video games using only your thoughts sounded like science fiction. At Neuralink’s Summer 2025 update event, it became a reality. The company demonstrated how its brain-computer interface (BCI) enables users to control video games, such as Mario Kart and Call of Duty, using only their minds.
During the event, Neuralink shared that seven participants have now been implanted with its brain-computer interface, Telepathy, marking steady progress in its human trials. The company has also received regulatory approval to begin trials in Canada, the UK, and the UAE, indicating its move toward international expansion.
Five of the participants joined the event virtually. Noland (P1), Alex (P2), and RJ (P5) are living with spinal cord injuries, while Brad (P3) and Mike (P4) have ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis).
Gaming, Mind Control, and Robotic Precision
In the demo video, Noland was seen playing Mario Kart using the Neuralink device. “What’s special about this particular clip is that Noland is not the only cyborg playing Mario Kart in this clip,” Sehej from Neuralink’s brain-computer interface said. “We actually have a whole community of users… literally five of our first users of Neuralink playing Mario Kart together over call.”
Neuralink didn’t stop at Mario Kart. The team demonstrated its system’s ability to control more complex interfaces, including first-person shooters. A video showed participants Alex and RJ playing Call of Duty using their thoughts, with one mental joystick controlling movement and the other controlling aiming and firing.
Sehej explained that the device connects via USB and can interface with a wide range of systems. “You can actually plug it in through USB through a lot of different devices,” he said, referring to the growing flexibility of the system.
Beyond gaming, Neuralink also shared how the BCI is affecting users’ everyday activities. In a candid video, Noland explained, “I work basically all day from when I wake up. I’m learning my languages. I’m learning my math. I’m, like, relearning all of my math. I am writing. I am doing that class that I signed up for.” “This is not something I would be able to do without the Neuralink.”
The demonstration aimed to show not only recreational uses, such as gaming, but also how the technology supports users in daily learning and productivity.
For non-verbal participants, the impact is particularly pronounced. Brad, known as the “ALS Cyborg,” who is nonverbal, previously relied on an eye-gaze machine that limited his ability to go outdoors. With Neuralink, he said, “I am absolutely doing more with Neuralink than I was doing with eye gaze. I have been Batman for a long time, but I go outside now. Going outside has been a huge blessing for me.”
Alex, a participant with a spinal cord injury, showcased the device’s ability to decode real-time hand movements. He was seen using a robotic arm to write and draw, after having been unable to do so for years. Later, he demonstrated playing “rock, paper, scissors” with his uncle by decoding “the actual fingers, the actual wrist, all the muscles of the hand in real time.”
From Brain to Optimus
Elon Musk added another layer to the vision, suggesting that Neuralink could one day allow users to operate Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot mentally. “You should be able to actually have full body control and sensors from an Optimus robot,” he said. “You could basically mentally remote into an Optimus robot.”
He added that Neuralink could eventually be used to restore mobility or replace lost limbs. “For people that have, say, lost a limb… we think in the future we’ll be able to attach an Optimus arm or legs,” Musk said. Referencing a scene from Star Wars, he said, “I think that’s the kind of thing that we’ll be able to do in the future, working with Neuralink and Tesla.”
Musk also discussed the potential for Neuralink to repair damaged nervous systems.
He explained that it is possible to extract signals from the brain and transmit them beyond damaged neurons, potentially allowing individuals to regain full body functionality and walk again. He expressed confidence that, in the future, even those with a broken neck could regain their full bodily functions.
Scaling the Brain-Machine Interface
Neuralink’s long-term vision is to develop a whole-brain interface capable of reading from and writing to neurons throughout the brain. “We mean being able to listen to neurons everywhere, be able to write information to neurons anywhere, and be able to do all of this with fully automated surgery,” said DJ Seo, co-founder of Neuralink.
To achieve this, Neuralink is developing three core product lines. The first is Telepathy, aimed at restoring motor control and communication for people with conditions like spinal cord injuries, ALS, or stroke. “This is our opportunity to build a high-channel read and output device,” Seo said.
The second product, Blindsight, will focus on vision restoration by writing to neurons in the visual cortex. It will restore vision for individuals with total loss of sight, even those blind from birth or who have lost their eyes/optic nerve.
Initially, it will provide low-resolution vision, but the long-term goal is very high-resolution vision and ‘superhuman capabilities’ like seeing in infrared and ultraviolet, akin to Geordi La Forge from Star Trek.
The third effort targets psychiatric and neurological disorders, such as chronic pain and mood dysregulation, by accessing deeper brain regions, including the limbic system.
Seo outlined the company’s two “north star metrics”: increasing the number of neurons that can be interfaced with and expanding to multiple areas of the brain. He explained that this would be supported by advances in microfabrication, lithography, and mixed-signal chip design, which would boost both the number of channels per implant and the amount of data that can be transmitted.
The product roadmap includes several significant milestones. In the next quarter, Neuralink plans to implant electrodes in the speech cortex to decode attempted words. By 2026, the channel count is expected to increase from 1,000 to 3,000, with the first Blindsight participant anticipated.
In 2027, Neuralink plans to introduce multiple implants per person and expand to 10,000 channels. By 2028, the goal is to reach over 25,000 channels per implant, support multiple brain regions simultaneously, and begin early demonstrations of AI integration.
“We are building foundational technologies that could solve devastating neurological conditions and also allow us to go beyond the limits of our biology,” Seo said.
Julian, the lead on the implant team, shared a long-term vision of expanding the bandwidth between the human brain and external machines.
He compared this to the evolution of internet modems, saying their hardware aims to do for the brain what broadband did for the 56k modem, enabling a much richer experience and even superhuman capabilities by sensing more neurons, following a kind of ‘Moore’s Law of Neurons.’
“We often think a lot about the Moore’s Law of neurons that we’re interacting with. And in the same way that Moore’s Law propelled forward many subsequent revolutions in computing, we think that sensing more and more neurons will also completely redefine how we interact with computers and reality at large,” Julian said.
As Neuralink moves toward broader deployment, new questions emerge about safety, privacy, data control, and the long-term effects of interfacing the brain with machines. The Mario Kart demonstration may have appeared to be a game, but it was also a powerful statement.
People dealing with profound physical challenges were able to play a game together using only their thoughts. That moment was not just about entertainment. It pointed to a future where the mind could become the primary interface for work, movement, communication, and more.
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