Neuralink reportedly under investigation by Uncle Sam for 'animal welfare violations'
(2022/12/07)
- Reference: 1670373915
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/12/07/neuralink_investigation_animals/
- Source link:
Neuralink is reportedly being investigated by the US government for possibly mistreating animals in lab experiments as the company rushes to build an implantable brain chip.
The startup, founded in 2016 by belligerent biz baron Elon Musk, is developing a medical device to help people afflicted with brain disorders to communicate, see, or move more easily. The Tesla tycoon said he wants to see the chips in humans next year.
However, before Neuralink obtains permission to start conducting trials on humans from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it has to test the technology on animals to show it's safe enough for people to try.
[1]
A lawsuit, filed in February by animal rights group the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, accused the startup of killing monkeys after a series of sloppy surgical procedures to insert electrodes inside their skulls. The group alleges that a substance called BioGlue killed two monkeys by "destroying portions of their brains."
[2]
[3]
The US Department of Agriculture's Office of Inspector General (USDA OIG) said it was looking into the situation the same month, and has now launched an official probe investigating animal welfare at the brain biz, Reuters [4]reports .
[5]Neuralink's AI brain chip could be in humans within six months claims Elon Musk
[6]Idea of downloading memories far-fetched say experts after Musk claim resurfaces in latest Neuralink development
[7]Facebook pulls plug on mind-reading neural interface that restored a user's speech
[8]Elon Musk had secret twins in 2021 with Neuralink exec
The earlier allegations concerned experiments conducted with eggheads at the University of California, Davis and concluded in 2020. Neuralink carelessly killed monkeys after using the BioGlue, it was claimed, or the animals died from infected wounds before any experiments had even begun.
The USDA OIG probe, however, is reportedly concerned with more recent experiments carried out at the company's own facilities. Neuralink has killed roughly 1,500 animals since 2018, including more than 280 sheep, pigs and monkeys, and also operates on rats and mice, we're told. Interviews with more than 20 employees and documents reviewed by Reuters revealed staff complained about animals dying in "hack jobs." Many boffins were apparently frustrated and pushed to perform surgeries quickly.
Musk reportedly sent emails to employees highlighting a news article describing how researchers had built a brain chip to restore mobility in a paralyzed man. "We could enable people to use their hands and walk again in daily life!" he wrote. "In general, we are simply not moving fast enough. It is driving me nuts!" he said in a follow-up email.
[9]
Animals are often killed for examination at the end of experiments, it is said. Rushed procedures to implant the device into pigs and monkeys, however, have led to more animals dying and surgery having to be repeated on new animals due to botched or failed attempts, it's claimed.
Musk has repeatedly predicted Neuralink's brain implant will soon be tested in humans. Last week, he [10]said the biz had submitted most of its paperwork to the FDA and could probably get trials started in six months from now.
"We're extremely careful," he said at Neuralink's latest show-and-tell event, and claimed experiments on animals were only performed for "confirmatory, not exploratory," research.
[11]
The Register has asked Neuralink and the USDA OIG for further comment. ®
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[4] https://www.reuters.com/technology/musks-neuralink-faces-federal-probe-employee-backlash-over-animal-tests-2022-12-05/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/02/neuralink_ai_brain_chip/
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[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/15/facebook_dumps_mindreading_neural_interface/
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[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/02/neuralink_ai_brain_chip/
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The startup, founded in 2016 by belligerent biz baron Elon Musk, is developing a medical device to help people afflicted with brain disorders to communicate, see, or move more easily. The Tesla tycoon said he wants to see the chips in humans next year.
However, before Neuralink obtains permission to start conducting trials on humans from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it has to test the technology on animals to show it's safe enough for people to try.
[1]
A lawsuit, filed in February by animal rights group the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, accused the startup of killing monkeys after a series of sloppy surgical procedures to insert electrodes inside their skulls. The group alleges that a substance called BioGlue killed two monkeys by "destroying portions of their brains."
[2]
[3]
The US Department of Agriculture's Office of Inspector General (USDA OIG) said it was looking into the situation the same month, and has now launched an official probe investigating animal welfare at the brain biz, Reuters [4]reports .
[5]Neuralink's AI brain chip could be in humans within six months claims Elon Musk
[6]Idea of downloading memories far-fetched say experts after Musk claim resurfaces in latest Neuralink development
[7]Facebook pulls plug on mind-reading neural interface that restored a user's speech
[8]Elon Musk had secret twins in 2021 with Neuralink exec
The earlier allegations concerned experiments conducted with eggheads at the University of California, Davis and concluded in 2020. Neuralink carelessly killed monkeys after using the BioGlue, it was claimed, or the animals died from infected wounds before any experiments had even begun.
The USDA OIG probe, however, is reportedly concerned with more recent experiments carried out at the company's own facilities. Neuralink has killed roughly 1,500 animals since 2018, including more than 280 sheep, pigs and monkeys, and also operates on rats and mice, we're told. Interviews with more than 20 employees and documents reviewed by Reuters revealed staff complained about animals dying in "hack jobs." Many boffins were apparently frustrated and pushed to perform surgeries quickly.
Musk reportedly sent emails to employees highlighting a news article describing how researchers had built a brain chip to restore mobility in a paralyzed man. "We could enable people to use their hands and walk again in daily life!" he wrote. "In general, we are simply not moving fast enough. It is driving me nuts!" he said in a follow-up email.
[9]
Animals are often killed for examination at the end of experiments, it is said. Rushed procedures to implant the device into pigs and monkeys, however, have led to more animals dying and surgery having to be repeated on new animals due to botched or failed attempts, it's claimed.
Musk has repeatedly predicted Neuralink's brain implant will soon be tested in humans. Last week, he [10]said the biz had submitted most of its paperwork to the FDA and could probably get trials started in six months from now.
"We're extremely careful," he said at Neuralink's latest show-and-tell event, and claimed experiments on animals were only performed for "confirmatory, not exploratory," research.
[11]
The Register has asked Neuralink and the USDA OIG for further comment. ®
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[4] https://www.reuters.com/technology/musks-neuralink-faces-federal-probe-employee-backlash-over-animal-tests-2022-12-05/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/02/neuralink_ai_brain_chip/
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[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/15/facebook_dumps_mindreading_neural_interface/
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[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/02/neuralink_ai_brain_chip/
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In memoriam, Michael Crichton
that one in the corner
Company wants to plant chips in our heads, then we find out that the work was rushed, the test animals died.
When does the report come out that the sole human test subject was given a nuclear battery to power his implant?
Killing test animals by rushing the procedures to get results faster? That isn't doing science, it isn't doing engineering, it is just doing capitalism - badly. Or deliberately creating the plot for the movie and novelisation.
Doing Agile
Steven Raith
Move fast and break things works in software (with appropriate dev, test and prod segregation etc etc etc)
Move fast and break things in animal testing?
Yeah, best not. But very on brand for Musk given his recent behaviour - I mean, two years ago, this would have been shocking. Now? Barely raises an eyebrow.
It's always fun to watch billionaires not only shit themselves in public, but to rub it in their own face while desperately shouting at the passers by that it's "totally chocolate guys, I didn't shit myself, I'm super serious, you're still my friends right??".
I look forward to the next bout of publicly exposed moral, ethical and managerial diarrhea from the man who only has status in the world because they couldn't take his Paypal shares away when they booted him out of the company.
Steven R
Human trials
Fruit and Nutcase
Can the #1 candidate be Musk please
Tesla in a tunnel
I hope you're also gonna also tackle the, hyperloop is now 'Teslas in a tunnel', because that's a flaming death trap waiting to happen, there's no way sprinklers will put out a lithium fire in those tunnels, or that people can flee such a fire, or that a failure in a Tesla can be safely driven manually to a stop by the user.
I see he's been investigated for claiming Teslas will deliver level 5 by end of 2021 when they're level 2/3 and the pure Tesla vision is so bad it doesn't even see close-up obstacles when reversing, ultrasonic sensors shouldn't have been removed until he could get Tesla vision working properly. Multiple safety recalls, lots of cut corners.
Frankly the whole Dogecoin pump and dump needs a full SEC investigation.
If you don't enforce laws against Musk, then he's never going to fix any of his half assed crap. He'll just do what he does now, announce some new gimmick, that he doesn't have working, will never deliver on, he'll take pre-orders, and will swap something half-assed at the end that he promises will work one day but never does. People who preordered Tesla 3s expected to get something with the full sensors and got palmed off with half assed crap.
You can also see him executing his 'pedo guy' attack mentality now. Musk's businesses face regulatory investigation, the executive branch are Democrats, therefore he's suddenly a full on MAGA nutjob datamining Twitter data for attack vectors. Attack attack attack, rather than fix fix fix.
You realize the permissions Twitter has? File access to the device media, location access, camera, microphone, contacts.. and all the private data his has access to. Musk in nutjob attack mode, trying to shape politics to let him continue to fail to deliver on his promises. That's not a good thing. You can't have one set of rules for most businesses and a free-for-all for Musk, and certainly can't let him abuse a massive attack vector, given his attack-personality trait.