Xillionaire
In early 2023, Elon Musk’s company Neuralink was given FDA approval to conduct clinical trials of their brain implants in humans. Brain-Computer Interfaces use implants to allow patients with, for example, paralysis to regain some part of everyday function by connecting the brain's electrical activity to an external device.
During the development of Neuralink’s ‘brain implant’ technology, the company “killed about 1,500 animals” to test the (at the time) theoretical devices and became the target of an investigation following staff complaints that “animal testing is being rushed, causing needless suffering and deaths”, something that anyone familiar with animal use in experimentation would expect. Employees were also found to have dangerously transported devices removed from primates, potentially exposing anyone who may have come into contact with the disposed devices.
Rightfully, animal advocacy groups reacted sternly in their communications, adding that Musk has a brief history of putting animals into dangerous or life-threatening situations, including in development and testing stages of SpaceX.
Like most animal use in any kind of research, organisations are bound by a combination of precedent using animals and the status quo of those involved in the research. As they have used animals in implant trials and rocket testing before, it is against these data that proposed trials and testing are encouraged to be compared. To remove animals form these situations, contemporary alternatives will need be used and thankfully these alternatives are finally becoming more widely available for a lower cost.
In a proposed collaboration with Human Genome Project geneticist, Elon Musk and Craig Venter have spoken about their ambition to perfect ‘printing life’ for use in Musk’s Mars colonisation aspirations. This technology will allow “humans to create medicines, food, and helpful microbes for early settlers of the planet”. This technology also has the potential to allow medical researchers to ‘print’ biological organs for human transplantation, without organ rejection concerns, or in surgical training and application, removing the use of animals entirely.
With animals slowly being removed from toxicity testing, the use of organs-on-a-chip have become increasingly popular. Consequently, this technology carries an increase in computer-obtained data and the requirement to be able to read and interpret massive amounts of information. As this research approach increases, so will the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in interpreting the data. OpenAI is the best known and one of the most advanced of these technologies, producing popular everyday applications such as ChatGPT. OpenAI was funded in varying amounts by a coalition of investors and companies, with Elon Musk being the largest investor, although he has since joined criticism of the rapid pace at which AI is progressing without adequate guardrails.
While we might criticise Musk for his company’s use of animals in their experimentation and testing, they are not extraordinary circumstances in which animals are being used. Millions of animals each year are being used in these industries as standard and Musk’s company’s are merely participating. Speaking to journalist Ashlee Vance, Musk said “If the rules are such that you can’t make progress, then you have to fight to change the rules”. While following some aspects of the status quo, Musk is also fighting against the stagnation of technology which has contributed to the stagnation in the use of alternatives to animal use.
We may enjoy berating those like Elon Musk who can be held as an icon for public criticism, however it should be obvious that it is not solely upon Musk to advance medical research and bypass government and pharmaceutical requirements. It remains that it is the government and pharmaceutical companies who dictate the direction of research and it is here that our criticism should be directed. It’s just not in our human nature to remain focused on changing industries as it is far more socially acceptable to gossip about billionaires.
