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- Elon Musk's Neuralink is testing its brain implant on animals ahead of plans for human trials.
- 19 of the 22 members of the animal-research oversight board are also Neuralink staff, per Reuters.
- Neuralink employees receive equity in the company and could profit if the implant is approved by regulators.
Elon Musk's Neuralink has reportedly filled its committee overseeing animal testing with staff who stand to profit if the brain implant is approved by regulators, according to Reuters.
The company is developing a computer chip that it believes could improve human intelligence, enable paralyzed people to walk, and restore sight to the blind.
Neuralink says the brain implant will let a computer translate a person's thoughts and has been testing this on animals before it gets approval for human trials; Musk previously said he expects it to be available by June.
Federal law requires certain animal research facilities to have a regulatory board called an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, or IACUC.
An internal document shared with Reuters showed that, as of late last year, 19 of Neuralink's 22 committee members were also company employees.
The law states that only one committee member has to be unaffiliated with the research facility. But Dr. Miguel Nicolelis – who has researched brain implants at Duke University for nearly 30 years – told Reuters that Neuralink has "an obvious conflict of interest."
That's because Neuralink staff typically receive equity in the company, five current and former workers told Reuters. Job adverts also confirm this. Two employees told Reuters that some senior-level workers stand to make millions of dollars if the brain implant is approved by regulators.
The news outlet spoke to a dozen animal research and bioethics experts in total, who said it's rare for IACUC members to have such direct financial interests.
Neuralink did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, sent outside US working hours. Reuters noted that this board could have changed since late last year.
In 2020, Neuralink hosted a live demo showing its ability to read the brain activity of a pig with a surgically implanted chip that transmitted data wirelessly. A year later, it shared a video that appeared to show a monkey playing the video game "Pong" with its mind – rather than a controller – thanks to the chip.
But last February, an animal-rights group submitted a complaint to the Department of Agriculture over Neuralink's treatment of the monkeys used in its research.
The group obtained vet records and autopsy reports, which it said indicated 23 monkeys had experienced "extreme suffering as a result of inadequate animal care and the highly invasive experimental head implants during the experiments."
"At Neuralink, we are absolutely committed to working with animals in the most humane and ethical way possible," the company responded in a blog post.