On January 29, billionaire Elon Musk announced on X that Neuralink had implanted a chip into a human brain for the first time and that the patient was “recovering well” with initial results “showing promising neuron spike detection capabilities.”
However, he did not mention the heated controversies surrounding his brain-computer interface (BCI) company, including how Neuralink treats its experimental monkeys.
In May 2023, Neuralink announced that it had received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct human trials. A few months later, the company began recruiting patients for the trial.
Just a day later, Wired magazine reported that about a dozen rhesus monkeys that Neuralink tested suffered all sorts of strange symptoms, including brain swelling, partial paralysis, and self-harming behavior. Eventually, several of the monkeys collapsed.
In an accident in 2019, the chip implanted in one of the monkeys suddenly failed. Upon waking up from the failed surgery, the monkey scratched at the implant site, causing bleeding. It turned out that the surgical wound had become infected, but because of the implant, it could not receive any medical treatment. As a result, it eventually died.
Another test monkey in 2019 banged its head on the ground and scratched at the surgical site until it bled out, eventually losing control. This monkey also died.
According to Wired , about 21% of the monkeys Neuralink tested have reportedly died due to problems with the chip implanting in their brains. Most of the experiments in question took place in 2019 and 2020, the company's early stages.
However, it appears that details of those early experiments were not shared with Neuralink investors, prompting pressure from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate whether the company and its founder misled investors by concealing the incidents.
It’s unclear whether the SEC has opened an investigation into Neuralink, but Reuters reported in late 2022 that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had investigated the startup for possible violations of the Animal Welfare Act. By July 2023, the investigation had concluded and found no evidence of animal research violations, aside from a 2019 incident that Neuralink itself reported.
According to Futurism , animal testing is often unfortunately fatal when researching treatments. However, what Neuralink has been criticized for is not disclosing all of that to the public before raising funds and recruiting clinical trial participants, performing risky brain surgeries.
(According to Futurism)
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