Neuralink has implanted its N1 brain-computer interface in twenty people worldwide, reaching a target the company set for itself as it scales from single-patient feasibility toward broader clinical evaluation. Seven of those surgeries took place between October and December 2025 at University College London Hospitals under the GB-PRIME study, filling the full allocation for the UK site. A UK participant said in December 2025 that the company’s R1 surgical robot would move next to Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, where the UAE-PRIME trial would add another country to Neuralink’s clinical footprint.
The pace of implantation has accelerated sharply. Neuralink’s first human surgery — Noland Arbaugh, implanted in January 2024 under the US PRIME study — was followed by a cautious expansion through the rest of that year. The UK programme compressed seven procedures into roughly ten weeks, a cadence that reflects both growing surgical confidence and the logistical advantage of the R1 robot, which inserts the N1’s 1,024 electrode threads into the brain through a 25-millimetre cranial opening in a procedure lasting three to four hours.
UK results
The GB-PRIME cohort has produced some of the most publicly visible demonstrations of BCI use to date. Sebastian Gomez-Peña, a 22-year-old medical student paralysed in a diving accident, was among the UK participants. From his hospital room at UCLH, he used the implant to move a cursor, open files, and play chess on a laptop without touching it. Another participant, Paul, who has motor neurone disease, controlled a computer within hours of surgery, a result UCLH highlighted in its October 2025 announcement.
The trial is led by the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery at UCLH, with a second UK site at Newcastle. All seven participants are now working with clinicians and Neuralink engineers to evaluate the device’s safety, usability, and potential applications in daily life. The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency approved the trial, and UCLH published an update in January 2026 confirming the full seven-patient enrolment.
UAE expansion
The UAE-PRIME study at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi marks Neuralink’s entry into the Middle East. The trial, conducted in partnership with the Department of Health Abu Dhabi, is recruiting adults over 18 with tetraplegia, chronic spinal cord injury, post-stroke upper-limb impairment, ALS, or severe speech impairment, provided cognitive function remains intact. The trial registry lists an estimated enrolment of 10. The same UK participant said the robot would carry out seven implants in the UAE, matching the UK allocation.
A plan to move a single R1 robot from site to site would reflect where Neuralink is in its manufacturing cycle. The company raised $650 million in 2025 and has spoken publicly about plans for mass production of both the N1 implant and the surgical robot in 2026, a transition that would allow simultaneous operations at multiple sites rather than the current sequential model.
What’s ahead
Neuralink’s US waiting list now exceeds 10,000 patients. A peer-reviewed publication from the GB-PRIME study is expected within 12 months, which would subject Neuralink’s clinical data to independent scrutiny for the first time outside conference presentations. The company also holds FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for its Blindsight programme, which aims to restore vision, with a trial scheduled for later in 2026. Scaling from twenty implants to the hundreds or thousands the waiting list implies will require both manufacturing capacity and a regulatory pathway that extends beyond individual-site studies — challenges that are commercial and logistical as much as they are scientific.
Correction, 30 October 2026: An earlier version of this article said Neuralink’s R1 surgical robot had relocated to Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi and that UAE-PRIME would add a third country, and cited a target of seven UAE implants. The relocation was a plan described by a UK participant in December 2025, not a reported move, and no UAE implant had been reported as of October 2026. UAE-PRIME would be Neuralink’s fourth country after the US, Canada and the UK, and its registry lists an estimated enrolment of 10. The headline and text have been updated.