Neuralink's first brain implant chip patient said he was assured no monkeys died during trials despite some suffering, dying

Nolan Arbaugh, a 29-year-old who is paralyzed from the neck down after a diving accident, has made headlines in recent weeks for being the first human to have Elon Musk's Neuralink implant chip inserted into his brain.

While the company has reportedly reached a major milestone in the development of digital devices that could help human cognition, there are serious concerns about the safety of the technology. One of the most pivotal concerns is how the technology is being used on animals during trials.

Neuralink has faced backlash after reports noted that monkeys had been dying or needing to be medically put to death after various testing phases of the brain implant chip. Benzinga reported that the "primates were part of experiments designed to assess the ability of Neuralink's brain chips to enable control of technology through thought alone."

Due to the alleged high mortality rates of monkeys, ethical questions have been raised about the development of the brain chip.

It appears Arbaugh was aware of the negative press Neuralink received before ultimately agreeing to move forward with the implant. “I read a lot of the negative stuff about this before the surgery — about all the terrible things that [the company was] putting the monkeys through and how awful it was, monkeys like picking out their implant and rubbing it on the ground and all sorts of stuff," he said.

There were reports of monkeys having holes drilled through their skulls and other suffering experienced during the company's experimentation phase. Benzinga reported that there was one report of a monkey that had experienced vomiting, retching, and gasping before it was found to have suffered a brain hemorrhage.

Despite all the reports coming out about Neuralink's testing practices, they have refused to admit their testing practices are unethical. When they had to euthanize monkeys, the company said it was due to inter-monkey aggression, and that it had nothing to do with the brain implant chip itself.

To cool the flames of criticism, Musk took to X in September 2023, tweeting: “No monkey has died as a result of a Neuralink implant. First, our early implants, to minimize risk to healthy monkeys, we chose terminal monkeys (sic) (close to death already).”

While Arbaugh's experience with the brain implant chip seems promising, Fortune reported that there's plenty of reason for people to remain skeptical. One of the most obvious facts about Arbaugh's experience with Neuralink is that the company retains "precise control over everything you see and hear," adding that "Neuralink has not published a single peer-reviewed research study — unusual in the health industry even for a privately-owned company."

The only stamp of approval the company has received is that it was given the go-ahead by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to move forward with its first human trial.

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