Elon Musk, the rightwing culture warrior waging a “civilization-saving” battle against the “woke mind virus,” apparently isn’t above taking advantage of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs when it serves his business purposes. Neuralink, the $9 billion brain implant startup that Musk founded, recently characterized itself as a “small disadvantaged business” in a federal filing with the Small Business Administration.
The SBA website notes that Neuralink attested in its filings that it is a “Self-Certified Small Disadvantaged Business.” According to the SBA, businesses can qualify for this designation if the company is “51% or more owned and controlled by one or more disadvantaged persons.” The firm must also “be small, according to SBA’s size standards,” the site states. According to the code of federal regulations, socially disadvantaged people are defined thusly:
…those who have been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias within American society because of their identities as members of groups and without regard to their individual qualities. The social disadvantage must stem from circumstances beyond their control.
The filing was first spotted by MuskWatch, a Substack focused on the Tesla billionaire, which accuses the company of having “falsified federal forms.” MuskWatch published an excerpt from a form that it said was filed by Neuralink on April 24, in which the company checked the box affirming that it is a small disadvantaged business as defined in the code. The blog points out that the SDB designation can also only be legally claimed by companies owned by “economically disadvantaged individuals,” and that federal regulations state that “individuals with a net worth exceeding $850,000, excluding the value of their primary residence,” do not qualify as “economically disadvantaged individuals.” Musk is obviously worth a lot more than that.
It is certainly difficult to understand what disadvantaged group Neuralink could claim maintains ownership over the company. The structure of Neuralink’s ownership isn’t publicly available, but Musk held a majority stake in the company in 2019. The startup has since engaged in raising more funds, but primarily from Silicon Valley’s lily white venture capital community.
Gizmodo reached out to the firm for more information.
The news is amusing and infuriating because two of the things Musk enjoys whining about most are the societal scourge of DEI and people who ask for help from the government. Now, his own company appears to be claiming it should get a federal handout because it is socially and economically disadvantaged. Of course, federal handouts have been the lifeblood of Tesla and SpaceX for many years.
Since it was founded in 2016, Neuralink has sought to use neural implants and experimental science to usher in a new era of computer-to-brain interfacing. The startup received FDA approval for human clinical trials in May of 2023. Last year, the company streamed an interview with a quadriplegic who used Neuralink’s brain implant to play video games.
Prior to human testing, Neuralink trialed its implants on animals. While many of those test subjects are still alive today, many ended up getting euthanized. Some, allegedly, died quite horribly, leading to accusations of “grotesque” animal abuse and a lawsuit from a physicians’ group.
