Elon Musk startup Neuralink which plans to implant computer chips in human brains is accused of misleading the federal government about the billionaire’s role in the company
- Neuralink most infamously has suggested that it hopes to implant computer chips into people’s brains
- Six Neuralink employees, most speaking anonymously to securities lawyers out of fear of retribution from Musk, voiced concern about the billionaire
- Central to the investigation is a 2018 letter where an attorney representing the startup allegedly downplayed Musk’s role with Neuralink to the SEC
- This goes against what the employees suggested, which is that Musk is the one pulling the strings
A startup that Elon Musk helped found and run is under scrutiny from the federal government over accusations that they lied about the entrepreneur’s role at the company.
Neuralink most infamously has suggested that it hopes to implant computer chips into peoples’ brains.
About a half dozen Neuralink employees, most speaking anonymously to securities lawyers out of fear of retribution from Musk, voiced concern about the billionaire.
Central to the investigation is a 2018 letter where an attorney representing the startup allegedly downplayed Musk’s role with Neuralink to the SEC.
This goes against what the employees suggested, which is that Musk is the one pulling the strings.
Elon Musk reacts during the unveiling of the new Tesla Model Y in Hawthorne, California
Neuralink’s first endovascular neural interface, the Stentrode
Roel Campos – a former SEC commissioner who wrote the letter on Neuralink’s behalf – said that the company’s only relation to Musk’s Tesla is through the billionaire’s role as a ‘shared mutual investor.’
Campos added that ‘Musk has no executive or management role at Neuralink’ and ‘does not serve as an officer or director.’
The letter was sent in the days following an SEC lawsuit filed against Musk over tweets the Tesla CEO sent threatening to take the car company private. Musk paid a $20million fine and quit as Tesla CEO.
Neuralink was exempt from having to register the sale of shares with the SEC because Campos argued on his behalf that he had only minor involvement in the company and Musk avoided making misleading statements about Tesla.
The employees spoken to by the federal government said that Musk was referring to himself as CEO of Neuralink in 2018. Musk has never officially been listed as the CEO since the company was founded in 2016, but the employees said he has been consistently in charge.
The SEC’s problems with Musk date back to his tweets threatening to take Tesla private
Musk has demonstrated the Neuralink brain chip in a pig and a monkey and a new job listing from the company suggests we could soon see it perform in a human brain.
The firm is now hiring a clinical trial director, which says the right candidate will ‘work closely with some of the most innovative doctors and top engineers, as well as working with Neuralink’s first Clinical Trial participants.’
Neuralink has not responded to a DailyMail.com request for comment.
Although the posting does not say when the trials will begin, Musk revealed last month that they are less than a year away – meaning human trials could start this year.
‘Neuralink’s working well in monkeys and we’re actually doing just a lot of testing and just confirming that it’s very safe and reliable and the Neuralink device can be removed safely,’ Musk said during a live-streamed interview with The Wall Street Journal CEO Council Summit.
An updated version of the Neuralink chip that they hope to test on humans in 2022
Neuralink’s system is comprised of a computer chip attached to tiny flexible threads that are stitched into the brain by a ‘sewing-machine-like’ robot
‘We hope to have this in our first humans — which will be people that have severe spinal cord injuries like tetraplegics, quadriplegics — next year, pending FDA approval.
‘I think we have a chance of being able to allow someone who cannot walk or use their arms be able to walk again – but not naturally.’
Musk first unveiled his Neuralink startup in 2016, touting the technology as the key to helping paraplegics walk, the cure for depression and a way to merge humans with computers.
Neuralink’s system is comprised of a computer chip attached to tiny flexible threads that are stitched into the brain by a ‘sewing-machine-like’ robot.
The device pickups signals in the brain, which are then translated into motor controls.
Musk says that the technology has proven to be safe in the brain and can be easily removed, so the only thing holding Neuralink back from human trials is FDA approval.
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