Paralysed Audrey Crews couldn’t move for 20 years. Now Elon Musk’s Neuralink lets her draw hearts and pizza

Audrey Crews has spent the last 20 years unable to move her limbs. Now, she's writing her name and drawing pictures, not with her hands, but with her mind. Using a Neuralink brain chip implanted in her motor cortex, Audrey has become the first person to publicly show what this technology can do.

She posted a photo online of her digital signature, written entirely through thought. The name "Audrey" appeared on screen in her own handwriting, along with a red heart and doodles of a bird, a face, and a slice of pizza.

In her words, “Here are some more of my doodles! I’m taking requests. Lol. Imagine your pointer finger is the left click and the cursor movement is with your wrist—without physically doing it. Just a normal day using telepathy.”


Her update quickly drew attention on social media. Elon Musk, who co-founded Neuralink, responded:
“She is controlling her computer just by thinking. Most people don’t realise this is possible.”

A new chapter after two decades of paralysis

Audrey’s journey began with a devastating spinal cord injury that left her paralysed from the neck down. For years, she relied on caregivers for every basic task. Then came Neuralink.

Earlier this month, she underwent surgery at the University of Miami Health Center, where doctors implanted the device directly into the part of her brain responsible for movement. She shared the experience online in detail:

“I had surgery last week and everything is going amazing,” she wrote.

“They drilled a hole in my skull and placed 128 threads into my motor cortex. The chip is about the size of a quarter.”

The chip picks up brain signals when she thinks about movement. Those signals are then decoded in real time and sent wirelessly to a computer, allowing her to move a cursor, draw, and type.

She added, “I’ll be able to control more electronic devices in the near future.”

However, she also made clear, “It’s strictly for telepathy only.”

She can’t walk again. But she can now interact with the digital world without any physical movement.

What neuralink is trying to do

Neuralink, founded in 2016 by Elon Musk and a team of engineers and scientists, is working to connect the human brain directly to machines. Inspired by the concept of "neural lace" from the science fiction novels of Iain M. Banks, the idea is to allow people to use digital tools with their minds alone.


The company’s technology works by inserting ultra-thin threads into the brain. These threads collect electrical activity from neurons, which is then decoded by machine learning algorithms and translated into digital commands.

According to Neuralink, the company has three main goals:

• Telepathy: Giving people with paralysis the ability to control computers and devices
• Blindsight: Helping restore vision by bypassing damaged optic nerves
• Deep: Aiming to treat neurological conditions like Parkinson’s and epilepsy

So far, at least five people have received the implant through Neuralink’s clinical trial programme. Audrey Crews is known as “Patient 9” in that study.

What this could mean

For people living with paralysis, the potential is massive. Being able to write, browse, or communicate digitally without relying on others offers a new level of independence.

Audrey’s experience is still early, but it shows what’s possible.

She praised the team that carried out her surgery, saying, “They treated me like a VIP. Some of the sweetest people I’ve ever met.”

And she’s committed to sharing more of her story.

“We are still in Miami, but I’ll be home soon. We’ll post more videos explaining the process in more detail.”

Elon Musk, for his part, believes brain-computer interfaces could one day become as routine as LASIK eye surgery.

That vision is still a long way off. Neuralink’s device is in its early trial stages and must still be proven safe, reliable, and effective at scale.

But for Audrey Crews, the technology has already changed her life. After 20 years of silence, she can now write, draw, and speak through a screen, using nothing but her thoughts.