Does Neuralink Compatibility Vary by Age or Health? Factors Explained

• The US PRIME study enrolls adults aged 22 to 75 with quadriplegia from cervical spinal cord injury or ALS that has not improved for at least a year.
• Exclusions include certain active implanted devices, a history of poorly controlled seizures or epilepsy, and a body mass index over 40.
• Participants need a reliable caregiver and must commit to about 6 years of study visits and sessions.

Age requirements

In the United States PRIME Study, participants must be between 22 and 75 years old, according to its ClinicalTrials.gov record. The minimum age supports informed consent, and the upper limit reflects higher surgical risk in older people.

Canada's CAN-PRIME trial lowers the minimum to 19 years, reflecting local rules. The UK's GB-PRIME and the UAE's UAE-PRIME also target adults with severe loss of movement.

As of October 2025, 13 patients across three countries used the N1 implant daily, ranging from young adults to middle age. Noland Arbaugh was 29 when he received the first implant and soon played chess by thought.

Required health conditions

PRIME requires quadriplegia, also called tetraplegia, meaning limited function in all four limbs, caused by cervical spinal cord injury or ALS and stable without improvement for at least 1 year. Neuralink's trials page now also lists brain stem stroke for its device-control trials, and the UK and UAE studies include stroke in their eligibility.

Candidates need to be able to communicate and have healthy skin at the implant site. A consistent caregiver is needed for daily support and study visits. Trial sites are in the US (Barrow Neurological Institute and the University of Miami), Canada (University Health Network in Toronto), the UK (University College London Hospitals and Newcastle), and the UAE (Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, recruiting).

Applicants join the Patient Registry at neuralink.com/trials and are then screened. Jon Noble, a UK participant, wrote in December 2025 that more than 10,000 people were on the US waiting list.

Health exclusions

Several health factors rule applicants out. Active implanted devices, such as pacemakers, cochlear implants, or deep brain stimulators, could interfere with the implant. PRIME excludes people with a history of poorly controlled seizures or epilepsy, and people with a body mass index over 40.

The protocol also excludes people who need frequent MRIs, people who are pregnant, and people with substance dependence in the past two years, along with severe skin conditions, uncontrolled diabetes, or an inability to lie flat for surgery. Neuralink reported zero serious device-related adverse events as of January 2026.

Performance across ages and conditions

Participants with spinal cord injury and with ALS both perform well. Noland Arbaugh (spinal cord injury) was using his implant about 10 hours a day by August 2025. Brad Smith, the first nonverbal ALS participant, communicates through text he writes by thought and an AI copy of his voice. Nick Wray, who also has ALS, uses a robotic arm to feed himself, and Jake Schneider has described restored purpose after his ALS diagnosis.

Participants have typed at up to 40 words per minute using imagined finger movements, according to Neuralink's January 2026 update. No published data shows that age or condition, within the trial limits, reduces signal quality.

Trials for new groups

Neuralink runs CONVOY for robotic arm control alongside PRIME. The VOICE speech trial enrolls people with ALS, PLS, stroke, or spinal cord injury who have severe speech impairment. Blindsight, which has an FDA Breakthrough Device Designation, would target blindness but has not started human trials. UAE-PRIME is recruiting at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, and Neuralink covers study-related travel costs.

This article was first published in October 2025 and corrected in October 2026; the latest patient count is on the patient table.