![]() In a statement posted to Neuralink’s website, Neuralink said the company is “absolutely committed to working with animals in the most humane and ethical way possible.” In the lawsuit, the committee further alleges that the University of California has declined to release photos and videos of the experiments, saying the records belong to Neuralink, a private company not subject to California’s Public Records Act. When an incident occurred, it was reported to the IACUC, which mandated training and protocol changes as needed.”Įlon Musk's Neuralink says this monkey is playing Pong with its mind From Neuralink/YoutubeĮlon Musk's Neuralink claims monkeys can play Pong using just their minds UC Davis staff provided veterinary care including round-the-clock monitoring of experimental animals. In a statement to KCRA 3, UC Davis spokesperson Andy Fell said: “The research protocols were thoroughly reviewed and approved by the campus’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).” Fell added: “The work was conducted by Neuralink researchers in facilities at the California National Primate Research Center at UC Davis. The Physicians Committee said in a press release on February 10 that UC Davis received more than $1.4 million in funding from Neuralink to carry out the experiments on the macaque monkeys.ĬNN has contacted UC Davis and the Board of Regents for comment. In the letter, which spans more than 700 pages, the Physicians Committee said records it obtained for the 23 monkeys used in the experiments reflect a “pattern of extreme suffering and staff negligence.” The committee said that the letter to the USDA is based on nearly 600 pages of what it calls “disturbing” documents released after the committee filed an initial public records lawsuit in 2021. The document says the experiments were carried out pursuant to contractual agreements between UC Davis and Neuralink. The statement by Neuralink comes after the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine – a US non-profit that advocates alternatives to animal testing – sent a letter to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) referencing violations and requesting an investigation into what it called “apparent egregious violations of the Animal Welfare Act related to the treatment of monkeys used in invasive brain experiments.” NeuralinkĮlon Musk shows off a working brain implant - in pigs The company said this was achieved after the Neuralink chip fed the information from the monkey’s neurons into a decoder, which was then used to predict Pager’s intended hand movements – allowing the output from the decoder to be used to move the cursor, instead of Pager manipulating the joystick.Įlon Musk showcases a new working version of the Neuralink brain implant during a livestream on August 28. In April last year, Neuralink claimed monkeys can play Pong – a computer game - using just their minds when it released a video of Pager, a male macaque, moving a cursor onscreen without using a joystick to do so. ![]() ![]() Macaque monkeys have been used in testing by Neuralink as the company has been developing Bluetooth-enabled implantable chips – inserted into the monkey’s brains – that the company says can communicate with computers via a small receiver. ![]() In a blog post on its website, Neuralink addressed the “recent articles” that have “raised questions around Neuralink’s use of research animals at the University of California, Davis Primate Center” (UC Davis) and said that “all novel medical devices and treatments must be tested in animals before they can be ethically trialed in humans.” Elon Musk’s implant company Neuralink, which aims to enable brains to connect and communicate with computers, has acknowledged that monkeys died as part of its testing procedures, but denies allegations of animal cruelty. ![]()
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