Photo: The Verge via YouTube
Elon Musk’s fringe company Neuralink brags about building a brain-machine interface that could help disabled patients move and communicate again and even restore vision. But before moving to the human trial phase, Neuralink needs to test the implant on animals, and it appears to have screwed up at this step.
During the Neuralink Show and Tell event on November 30, Elon Musk bragged about all the good things the brain implant will bring to the table. The company published on its YouTube channel a nice little video explaining how the animals’ well-being is taken care of. We’ve had our suspicions that the poor goats, pigs, sheep, and monkeys in the laboratories didn’t like Musk’s idea, but it has now been confirmed at a higher level.
According to an exclusive Reuters report, Neuralink is under federal investigation for potential animal welfare violations. This was triggered by internal staff complaints that the animal testing was being rushed, causing needless suffering and deaths. The federal probe was opened in recent months by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Inspector General at a federal prosecutor’s request, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation.
The investigation focuses on violations of the Animal Welfare Act, which governs how researchers must treat and test animals. Nevertheless, Reuters could not determine the depth of the federal investigation, and a spokesperson for the USDA inspector general declined to comment.
Reuters reviewed dozens of Neuralink documents and interviewed more than 20 current and former employees. The evidence points out that pressures from Elon Musk to accelerate development have resulted in botched experiments. This led to the experiments being repeated, with more animals being tested and killed in the process. In one example given by Reuters, 25 out of 60 pigs in a 2021 study had devices implanted with the wrong size. The error could’ve been avoided with more preparation.
According to the records reviewed by Reuters, around 1,500 animals have been killed during testing since 2018, including more than 280 sheep, pigs, and monkeys. Neuralink has also used rats and mice in the experiments. The numbers could be higher because Neuralink does not keep precise records on the number of animals tested and killed. Nevertheless, Neuralink employees say the number of deaths is higher than it needs to be because Elon Musk wanted to speed up research.
Musk repeatedly promised that human trials would start in about six months, and the Show and Tell event in November was no different. But for that to happen, Neuralink’s progress needed to move faster than it did. Musk made it clear to employees that he was not satisfied with the progress pace and made veiled threats to shut down operations. Several people told Reuters they left the company over concerns about animal research.
According to an exclusive Reuters report, Neuralink is under federal investigation for potential animal welfare violations. This was triggered by internal staff complaints that the animal testing was being rushed, causing needless suffering and deaths. The federal probe was opened in recent months by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Inspector General at a federal prosecutor’s request, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation.
The investigation focuses on violations of the Animal Welfare Act, which governs how researchers must treat and test animals. Nevertheless, Reuters could not determine the depth of the federal investigation, and a spokesperson for the USDA inspector general declined to comment.
Reuters reviewed dozens of Neuralink documents and interviewed more than 20 current and former employees. The evidence points out that pressures from Elon Musk to accelerate development have resulted in botched experiments. This led to the experiments being repeated, with more animals being tested and killed in the process. In one example given by Reuters, 25 out of 60 pigs in a 2021 study had devices implanted with the wrong size. The error could’ve been avoided with more preparation.
According to the records reviewed by Reuters, around 1,500 animals have been killed during testing since 2018, including more than 280 sheep, pigs, and monkeys. Neuralink has also used rats and mice in the experiments. The numbers could be higher because Neuralink does not keep precise records on the number of animals tested and killed. Nevertheless, Neuralink employees say the number of deaths is higher than it needs to be because Elon Musk wanted to speed up research.
Musk repeatedly promised that human trials would start in about six months, and the Show and Tell event in November was no different. But for that to happen, Neuralink’s progress needed to move faster than it did. Musk made it clear to employees that he was not satisfied with the progress pace and made veiled threats to shut down operations. Several people told Reuters they left the company over concerns about animal research.
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