Documents show that up to a dozen of Neuralink's primate subjects were euthanized after suffering complications; Elon Musk says no primates died due to implants

Elon Musk says no primates died as a result of Neuralink's implants. A WIRED investigation now reveals the grisly specifics …

Wired 2023-09-21

Context & Ripple Effects

This report extends a dispute that began with allegations that Neuralink's monkey testing was invasive and deadly, which the company defended. It adds documented outcomes to a controversy previously framed largely through competing claims.

It also lands after reports of a USDA animal-welfare investigation and an FDA rejection of Neuralink's initial clinical-trial application over device-related issues. Together, those developments make preclinical practices relevant to Neuralink's broader path toward human testing.

First-order effects

The documented euthanasias sharpen the conflict between Musk's statement that implants caused no primate deaths and the reported complications involving Neuralink subjects.
Neuralink faces more immediate scrutiny of its animal-testing record from critics and from stakeholders already focused on its welfare practices.

Second-order effects

The report gives the existing animal-welfare debate a more specific evidentiary focus, increasing pressure on Neuralink to explain how complications were assessed and attributed.
As Neuralink works through the FDA issues reported earlier, questions about preclinical testing may raise the importance of clear safety documentation alongside device design fixes.

Third-order effects

If such disclosures continue to shape the debate, brain-computer-interface companies may face a higher practical bar for transparent preclinical safety evidence before human trials can command trust.
The episode points to animal welfare and test-process governance becoming part of the competitive and regulatory credibility of invasive neurotechnology, not merely a reputational side issue.

The trend: Invasive brain-computer interfaces are moving toward a model in which clinical ambition is increasingly judged alongside the transparency and governance of their preclinical testing.

Discussion

@PattyHanson@mastodon.social @PattyHanson@mastodon.social on mastodon
...monkey, “Animal 20”, scratching at the surgical site, which emitted a bloody discharge & yanking on a connector that eventually dislodged part of the device...Animal 15" 2019. Days after her implant surgery, she began to press her head against the floor for no apparent reason…
@tiffanycli@mastodon.social Tiffany Li on mastodon
The details are horrifying. The abuse these intelligent animals suffered is bad enough. Now imagine how Neuralink would treat human test subjects or, worse, “consumers.” https://www.wired.com/...
@glynmoody@mastodon.social Glyn Moody on mastodon
The Gruesome Story of How Neuralink's Monkeys Actually Died - https://www.wired.com/... sickening abuse of intelligent creatures by musk's neuralink venture
@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
The first human patient will soon receive a Neuralink device. This ultimately has the potential to restore full body movement. In the long term, Neuralink hopes to play a role in AI risk civilizational risk reduction by improving human to AI (and human to human) bandwidth by...
@wired @wired on x
Today, the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) sent a letter to the SEC requesting an investigation into whether Musk's statements violate a federal law shielding investors from false and aggrandized claims. 5/9
@wired @wired on x
In early 2022, the FDA rejected Neuralink's application to conduct clinical trials on humans, but in May the company received a green light for human trials after seemingly allaying the FDA's concerns. Now, the company says it's ready to begin recruitment for those trials. 7/9
@marynmck Maryn McKenna on x
Very important, deeply disturbing investigation by @WIRED colleagues @dmehro and Dell Cameron into the deaths of monkeys given M*sk's Neuralink brain implants, and how the company narrative they were “already terminal” doesn't hold up. https://www.wired.com/...
@bcmerchant Brian Merchant on x
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@laurengoode Lauren Goode on x
A medical ethics group has called on the SEC to investigate Musk's claims that monkeys who died during trials at the company were terminally ill and did not die as a result of Neuralink implants. Veterinary records show otherwise. From @WIRED https://www.wired.com/... [image]
@sparrowmedia @sparrowmedia on x
At least 12 young monkeys died as a result of @ElonMusk's ghoulish Neuralink exploratory research at UC Davis. Musk lied to investors and said that no monkeys died as a result of the implants. @PCRM has sent a letter to the SEC alleging securities fraud. https://www.wired.com/...
@wired @wired on x
Read the full story of the fate of a dozen Neuralink simian test subjects at the link, including a former employee's statement calling Musk's claim “ridiculous” and a look at what the SEC might do in response to PCRM's appeal: https://www.wired.com/...
@wired @wired on x
PCRM cites the veterinary records as evidence that Musk publicly misled investors about the safety, and therefore marketability, of Neuralink's speculative product. The SEC has previously declared in court that Musk's Twitter account is a primary source of investor news. 6/9
@bcmerchant Brian Merchant on x
Another revelation from this good and horrifying WIRED story is that Musk's claim that the monkeys were “close to death already” is (surprise) a “straight fabrication” as it was a distinct requisite of the trials that the monkeys were not close to death https://www.wired.com/...
@wired @wired on x
Last week, Musk denied on Twitter that any of the monkeys' deaths were “a result of a Neuralink implant” and claimed that researchers had taken care to select subjects who were “terminal” or “close to death already.” 2/9
@gadyepstein Gady Epstein on x
Extremely grim Wired report on Elon's Neuralink monkeys and the suffering that appears to have been inflicted on them before they were euthanized. A former employee calls “ridiculous” Musk's claim they were already close to death before being tested on https://www.wired.com/... […
@wired @wired on x
The documents include veterinary records, first made public last year, which contain grisly portrayals of suffering reportedly endured by more than a dozen of Neuralink's subjects, all of whom needed to be euthanized. 4/9
@wired @wired on x
Public records reviewed by WIRED, and interviews with a former Neuralink scientist and a current researcher at the UC Davis Primate Center, present a wholly different picture of the company's methodology, and the acceptable limits of its experimentation. 3/9
@wired @wired on x
BREAKING: The top financial regulator in the US government has received a call to investigate Elon Musk's recent claims about the deaths of macaque monkeys used in research by Neuralink to develop an experimental brain chip implant. 🎨@anjalinair25 / 🔗 https://www.wired.com/... [i…
r/technology r on reddit
The Gruesome Story of How Neuralink's Monkeys Actually Died | Elon Musk says no primates died as a result of Neuralink's implants. …
@michael_w_busch@mastodon.online Michael Busch on mastodon
It remains way past time to shut down Neuralink. Before yet another of Elon Musk's scams gets someone killed. — QT Jennifer Ouellette — @JenLucPiquant — 2023 September 20 — Elon Musk says no primates died as a result of Neuralink's implants. …
@neuralink @neuralink on x
We're excited to announce that recruitment is open for our first-in-human clinical trial! If you have quadriplegia due to cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), you may qualify. Learn more about our trial by visiting our recent blog post....
@sawyermerritt Sawyer Merritt on x
BREAKING: Neuralink has announced that their first-in-Human clinical trial is now open for recruitment! This is a medical device trial for their fully-implantable, wireless brain-computer interface. [image]
@sotadotclub Johnny Sota on x
This is absolutely HUGE! After 7 years since inception, Neuralink announces its first human clinicial trial. 🥳 > persons with quadriplegia can apply > N1 implant will be placed in the brain, allowing users to control input to cursor, keyboard etc. with neural signals. > R1 robot.…
r/EnoughMuskSpam r on reddit
The Gruesome Story of How Neuralink's Monkeys Actually Died
r/ABoringDystopia r on reddit
Neuralink: “We're excited to announce that recruitment is open for our first-in-human clinical trial!”

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