Neuralink faces federal investigation over allegations of animal abuse and 'hacking' operations

Enlarge / Pager, a nine-year-old macaque, plays MindPong with his Neuralink. YouTube/NeuraLink

Elon Musk's brain-computer interface company Neuralink is being investigated by the US Department of Agriculture for possible animal welfare violations amid of allegations by current and former employees that the company abused animals in botched research leading to "hacking work" surgeries spurred by Musk's tight deadlines.

That's all according to an exclusive investigation released Monday night by Reuters, which reviewed internal Neuralink documents and records and interviewed more than 20 current and former Neuralink employees.

According to Reuters, the USDA inspector general opened an investigation into Neuralink in recent months at the request of a federal prosecutor. The investigation focuses on possible violations of the Animal Welfare Act, which regulates the treatment of animals involved in research and other activities and is enforced by the USDA. Reuters was unable to determine the scope of the investigation. The USDA inspector general declined to comment on the Reuters investigation. Regulatory filings show Neuralink has passed previous USDA inspections.

However, the revelation of the investigation came as several current and former Neuralink employees accused the company of animal abuse. The allegations ranged from botched research that led to the euthanasia of more animals than necessary, to "hacking" operations that resulted in unnecessary pain and suffering in animals before they were euthanized.

> Allegations

In one case in 2021, 25 of 60 pigs used in a study had the wrong size devices surgically implanted in their heads. It was an accident that internal documents and people familiar with the stated subject could have avoided had the researchers had the time to prepare for the experiment.

In two other incidents, Neuralink researchers accidentally implanted a device on the wrong vertebra of two pigs during two separate operations, which could have been avoided if the researchers had simply counted the vertebrae before starting the operations. operations. The fact that this happened twice would have frustrated other researchers.

According to internal documents, Neuralink vet Sam Baker advised killing one of the pigs to end his suffering. “Based on the low chance of a full recovery…and his current poor psychological well-being, it was decided that euthanasia was the only appropriate course of action,” Baker wrote to his colleagues a day after the operation. Reuters noted that Baker added a broken heart. emoji to message.

Reuters also identified four experiments, involving a total of 86 pigs, that were marred by human error. Errors meant that experiments yielded less valid research results and had to be repeated, requiring the use of even more animals. Three people who spoke with Reuters attributed the errors to researchers working in a "pressure cooker environment".

Pressure

Overall, employees blamed preventable accidents on Musk, pushing researchers to move faster with rushed timelines and deadlines.

In emails sent earlier this year, Musk sent employees a news article about a rival company making progress on an implant to allow a paralyzed man to walk. Ten minutes later, he sent another email saying, "Usually we just don't move fast enough. This is driving me crazy!"

Three people also told Reuters that Musk repeatedly told staff to pretend there was a bomb strapped to their heads to motivate them to work faster. At another point, he reportedly said he would trigger a "market failure" if the company didn't move faster, which employees interpreted as a threat to shut down the business.

In all, Neuralink has killed around 1,500 animals since 2018, including pigs, monkeys and more than 280 sheep, according to Reuters. The outlet noted that a rival, Synchron, made better progress using far fewer animals – only around 80 sheep. Like Neuralink, Synchron launched in 2016, but it has less ambitious goals for its device. Yet the company's device allowed paralyzed people to...