A brain-computer interface (BCI) startup called Paradromics, a competitor to Elon Musk’s Neuralink that’s aiming to control computers using brain implants, is partnering with Saudi Arabia’s megalomaniac Neom city-building project.
As Bloomberg reports, the agreement will involve the construction of a new clinical research center within the new city, which is currently being built on the Red Sea coast. Paradromics is hoping to kick off human clinical trials in the US as soon as this year, and the Middle Eastern kingdom could soon follow.
But given Saudi Arabia’s abysmal track record when it comes to human rights abuses, the collaboration raises plenty of red flags. The kingdom’s Neom project, in particular, has been the subject of some extremely damning reports, from bulldozed villages to the alleged use of lethal force to human slavery.
According to one documentary last year, more than 21,000 immigrant workers, most from South Asian countries like Bangladesh, India, and Nepal, have died while working on the project’s 100-mile skyscraper called the Line, though Saudi officials have denied the claims. However, as the Wall Street Journal reported in November, Neom CEO Nadhmi al-Nasr abruptly departed the role following the documentary, suggesting drama behind the scenes.
Put simply, Saudi Arabia is a monarchy with among the worst track records for human rights and the treatment of vulnerable populations on the planet, plus a nearly bottomless supply of money due to its immense oil resources.
It sounds far-fetched, but it’s hard not to imagine that Saudi royals — who, lest you forget, murdered and dismembered a journalist several years ago — are at least passively wondering whether BCI tech could be used to keep workers in check or increase their productivity. It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds; Western BCI companies have already started working with employers on schemes to monitor employee productivity using the tech.
In other words, an investment in the tech by a country known for trampling human rights raises a host of thorny ethical issues.
Paradromics’ official goals, we should point out, don’t sound nefarious at all; the company says it’s interested in starting with giving voice back to patients who’ve lost the ability to speak by translating brain signals using a tiny device implanted below the skull, not unlike Neuralink’s chip.
The company has been testing the tech on sheep, and is hoping to start human trials as soon as the fourth quarter of this year.
“Once we are ready to do the clinical trial in the US, we are operationally ready to do it elsewhere,” CEO Matt Angle told Bloomberg.
But the competition is growing. Neuralink kicked off its first human clinical trials just over a year ago. Since then, it has implanted devices in the brains of numerous patients, who are now using the gadgets to browse the web and play video games.
The latest partnership could be seen as part of the Saudi crown family’s attempts to diversify the kingdom’s economy away from oil. According to OPEC, the Kingdom possesses around 17 percent of the world’s petroleum reserves, with oil exports accounting for roughly 40 percent of its GDP.
How exactly brain implants will factor into those efforts remains to be seen. But for a country with a track record like Saudi Arabia’s, dark possibilities are endless.
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