Should we be worried about Neuralink moving to human guinea pigs? During his stay in Paris last June, Elon Musk announced that he wanted to equip the first human being with neural implants “this year”. The multi-billionaire serial entrepreneur’s start-up has been working on this technology since 2016, the medium-term goal of which is to help people who are paralyzed, have spinal cord injuries or suffer from neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s disease. In the long term, Elon Musk’s idea would be to create a symbiotic relationship between humans and artificial intelligence, which could blur the boundaries between human thought and computing.
A new investigation by Wired published this Wednesday provides a new presentation of the mutilations suffered by Neuralink’s guinea pig monkeys. According to the article, the public University of California, Davis, (commonly known as UC Davis), and Elon Musk’s start-up hid images that show these primates in poor condition after being implanted with brain chips. Vomiting, less and less reactive pupils, tremors… These descriptions complete the already worrying picture painted by a first investigation by the American magazine at the end of September which described monkeys in agony, their brains destroyed.
Atrocious suffering suffered
According to this first article, an ethics committee urged, on September 20, in a letter, senior officials of the American Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) (equivalent to our Financial Markets Authority) to investigate the underlying nature of the research. from Neuralink. Based on veterinary records, they claim that complications related to the implantation procedures led to the monkeys’ deaths.
For his part, Elon Musk acknowledged the death of the macaques on September 10, affirming that the researchers had selected subjects already close to death. “No monkey has died from a Neuraling implant, he assured on [anciennement connu sous le nom de Twitter]. For our first implants, we chose monkeys near death to reduce the risks to healthy monkeys. »
A former employee of Neuralink and a current researcher at the UC Davis primate center, interviewed by Wired, describe another reality. Documents that include veterinary records describe excruciating suffering suffered by a dozen Neuralink monkeys. All had to be euthanized.
Human trials in preparation
From February 2022, the Committee of Physicians for Responsible Medicine has filed a complaint with the United States Department of Agriculture against the university for violations of the Federal Animal Welfare Act related to invasive and fatal brain experiments conducted on 23 monkeys.
Neuralink and UC Davis’ partnership ended in September 2020, but the Physicians Committee says the company continues to employ the same neurosurgeon and many staff members responsible for the experiments that led to the poisoning, mutilation and the death of the 12 macaque monkeys.
Last month, Neuralink announced that it was preparing to begin human trials after receiving the green light from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). According to Wiredsince the end of its partnership with UC Davis, Neuralink has been carrying out its tests internally, in secret.