Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Sep 04, 2025

Neuralink co-founder quits weeks after hinting brain-tweaking software could reanimate dinosaurs in Jurassic-Park situation

Neuralink co-founder quits weeks after hinting brain-tweaking software could reanimate dinosaurs in Jurassic-Park situation

The co-founder of Tesla tycoon Elon Musk’s controversial neural implant project quietly left the firm last month, only revealing his departure on Saturday via Twitter. Max Hodak had actually left the company in early April.

Hodak, who co-founded Neuralink with Musk, was most recently seen speculating about the potential for the project to semi-reanimate dead dinosaur species a la ‘Jurassic Park’.


The engineer has thus far remained silent about his reasons for quitting, insisting he “learned a ton [at Neuralink] and remain[s] a huge cheerleader for the company!” However, an individual questioning Hodak on his future projects seemed to have inspired him to eat his words. Asked what was next for him, Hodak tweeted “not Jurassic Park.”


Hodak and Musk launched Neuralink in 2016, with Hodak bringing a background in biomedical engineering while Musk brought his bottomless well of ideas. Prior to climbing on board with Musk’s invention, Hodak founded a company called Transcriptic, which has been described in the tech press as a “robotic cloud laboratory for the life sciences.”

In the hyper-competitive aura of Silicon Valley, some have speculated that Hodak may have enjoyed working on Neuralink so much that he opted to build something along those lines himself. However, others have suggested that “troubles at the management level” are responsible – and certainly Musk is accustomed to being the sole man in charge at his other companies, Tesla, SpaceX, and Starlink.

Neuralink may be the most controversial of all Musk’s projects. The billionaire has waffled back and forth between claiming the brain-to-AI setup is merely intended to help humans with severe health problems, including the paralyzed and others who can’t communicate with the outside world, and stating it’s an effort to make human beings more competitive as AI grows in strength and ubiquity.

“We will not be able to be smarter than a digital supercomputer, so, therefore, if you cannot beat’em, join [‘em],” Musk infamously said during a 2019 podcast, suggesting the “existential risk associated with digital superintelligence" was too great for humans to face on their own. Other stated (and less disturbing) aims for the project include “understanding the human brain.”

Musk and other engineers have suggested that, due to the miniature scale of the operation required to implant a functional Neuralink setup into the human brain, the entire process should be done robotically. The company’s team claims to have implanted Neuralink chips into the brains of monkeys and pigs, supposedly giving the creatures the ability to “play video games using [their] mind.” However, skeptics have argued the experimental animals’ Neuralink-enhanced activities are more like playing ultra-simplistic video games like ‘Pong’ than surfing the internet.

At least a few reactions to Hodak’s announcement sounded alarmed, with one commenter suggesting Hodak’s tweet read “like a ransom note.”


Another pointed out that it was “too early” for him to quit, as Neuralink had still not debuted its flagship product. Hodak seemed to agree with the latter opinion.


Others were simply itching to see what came next – and hoping the company’s cofounder could spill the beans on how far along Neuralink really was. Musk’s work tends to be shrouded in secrecy, accumulating huge amounts of rumors before it is finally introduced. Given the potential military applications for Neuralink, it’s quite possible that the technology won’t see the light of day for quite some time.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
×