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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Technology
Kari Paul and Maanvi Singh in San Francisco

Elon Musk’s brain implant company is approved for human testing. How alarmed should we be?

An illustration of the Neuralink logo on a cellphone over the silhouette of Elon Musk.
Musk’s brain-implant company Neuralink last week received approval to conduct its first clinical trials. Photograph: Dado Ruvić/Reuters

Elon Musk’s brain-implant company Neuralink last week received regulatory approval to conduct the first clinical trial of its experimental device in humans. But the billionaire executive’s bombastic promotion of the technology, his leadership record at other companies and animal welfare concerns relating to Neuralink experiments have raised alarm.

“I was surprised,” said Laura Cabrera, a neuroethicist at Penn State’s Rock Ethics Institute about the decision by the US Food and Drug Administration to let the company go ahead with clinical trials.

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