That is why there is an investigation into Elon Musk’s brain implant company Neuralink

Elon Musk’s neurotechnology company Neuralink is under investigation in the United States for possible violations of animal protection laws, Reuters news agency reported Tuesday. Workers have complained that animal testing was rushed and sometimes flawed, causing unnecessary suffering. This is evident from internal documents that Reuters has seen.

Neuralink is developing a brain implant to help paralyzed people walk again and cure other neurological disorders. The company was founded in 2016 by Musk and eight other investors.

Musk’s pressure on employees to speed up development has led to animal testing failures, Reuters reports. The report is based on dozens of Neuralink documents (audio recordings, emails, presentations) and interviews with more than 20 current and former employees.

Musk has repeatedly asked his employees to imagine having a bomb on their head to spur them on to faster results. He also allegedly suggested closing the company if they didn’t make quick progress.

About 1,500 animals have died in Neuralink experiments since 2018, including more than 280 sheep, pigs and monkeys, according to Reuters. Important: The numbers don’t automatically mean Neuralink is breaking the law, and Musk’s company has passed all regulatory inspections of its facilities to date.

However, former and current employees told Reuters that the intense time pressure resulted in failed experiments and, as a result, a higher-than-necessary death rate due to necessary iterations. One of the avoidable accidents that led to the needless death of animals is a documented case in 2021 when 25 out of 60 pigs had the wrong size brain-computer interface implanted in their heads.

In a post accessed by Reuters, an employee wrote an email to colleagues earlier this year, citing the need to review the way the company organizes animal operations to avoid botch-ups. The rushed schedule resulted in overworked staff struggling to meet deadlines and making last-minute changes before animals were operated on, increasing risks to the animals.

Five people involved in Neuralink’s animal testing told Reuters they raised internal concerns. In September, the company responded to the internal criticism with an employee meeting where the processes were explained.

Neuralink is under pressure to succeed as several milestones, such as human trials, have been missed. While rival company Synchron already has approval for human testing, Neuralink has yet to make do with animal testing. According to media reports, one of the founders and several executives recently left the company.

Earlier this year, Musk emailed his staff at 6:37 a.m. with an article about Swiss researchers who had developed an implant that allowed a paralyzed man to walk again, according to Reuters. “In general, we are just not going fast enough. It drives me crazy,” he allegedly wrote in another email, which he sent ten minutes later.

Musk recently denied allegations by an animal rights organization that Neuralink experiments on monkeys failed. But Neuralink confirmed that after a joint study with a California university, it killed six monkeys due to problems caused by the experiments.

Musk said the surgeries were only used as a last resort and at a late stage to confirm the implant worked, not to test early hypotheses. However, Reuters found several years of Neuralink records containing numerous references to “reconnaissance operations”.

In October, a month before Musk’s comments, Autumn Sorrells, the director of animal care, instructed staff to retroactively remove the term “exploration” from study titles and to stop using it in the future.

Musk and Neuralink initially did not respond to Reuters’ allegations.

Neuralink announced at an event a few days ago that it could begin human trials within six months. However, approval is still lacking and the ongoing investigation could further delay this. Corresponding test series were originally announced for 2020 and later for 2022. Now they are scheduled for the first half of 2023.

Neuralink’s long-term goal is to develop a brain implant that enables connection to the computer without the detour of input devices such as a mouse, keyboard or monitor. In addition, the necessary brain surgery will be automated, so that it will also become affordable for the middle earner.

However, this is a dream of the future. As part of a show event in late November, Neuralink showed videos of monkeys being implanted with an early version of the implant. They could apparently navigate to and select highlighted letters on an on-screen keyboard with their minds.

In the near future, this form of mind control will enable people who are completely paralyzed to operate their smartphones faster than people can do it by hand, Musk promised. Moreover, they want to be able to give blind people their sight back very quickly. It is currently completely uncertain whether he will be able to fulfill the bold promises.

(oli)