neurolinka company owned by Elon Musk which develops brain chip technology, has again sparked controversy. Animal testing of brain chips has been linked to the deaths of 15 apes used in the experiments, with only seven said to have survived.
These accusations come from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (MRCP), who claims to have discovered this through more than 700 pages of documents acquired through the University of California Davis. The apparent deaths span from 2017 to 2020, which, if true, would explain why the human testing was two years behind schedule.
The accusations come from reports by Business Insider and the New York Post. The sources say that the apes used in the animal tests and the Neuralink chips, which are apparently inserted into their brains, are in “extreme suffering”. Both physical and neurological side effects have been reported, ranging from brain hemorrhages to self-destructive behaviors. In one case, a monkey was found to be missing its fingers and toes, “possibly from self-mutilation or some other unspecified trauma.” Others died from infection as a result of poor care after chip insertion.
This report is a far cry from a video shared last year, showing a monkey quietly playing Pong. The company claims that the game was played with the chip, without the need for a controller and using only brain activity. Human trials were initially said to start in 2020, but were pushed back to 2022. According to recent reports, the company is moving ahead with these plans and has already started hiring staff for experimentation.
As usual, Elon Musk has not stopped making promises about what the chip will be capable of neurolink. Last month, promised that users would be able to replay memories and scroll through social media without lifting a finger. Furthermore, he claims that the chip should be able to restore full-body functionality in a user with a spinal cord injury. Elon Musk and Neuralink have not yet responded to these recent allegations, and it is also not known if the reports will delay human trials.