Paul Merola, who helped launch Neuralink in 2016 and worked on its chip design program, is no longer with the San Francisco-area company, sources said.
The reason for Merola’s departure and his career plans are not known. Representatives for Merola, Musk and Neuralink did not respond to requests for comment.
According to two sources, there were eight people, including Merola and Musk, who helped set up Neuralink six years ago. Merola’s exit left only one Neuralink founding member, implant engineer Dongjin “DJ” Seo, with the company other than Musk, who was listed in a January corporate filing as the company’s chief executive.
One of the other founders was former Neuralink chairman Max Hodak, who worked closely with Musk on its launch. It is not known whether possible failures at Neuralink contributed to the departure.
Musk said in a 2019 presentation that Neuralink aimed to obtain regulatory approval for trials of implanting chips in humans by the end of 2020, but the company has yet to receive such approval or bring any products to market. . Musk, who is also the chief executive of the electric car maker Tesla Inc., described Neuralink’s aspirations as offering “a Fitbit in your skull.”
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Prior to joining Neuralink, Merola was a research scientist. ibm Corp’s “brain-inspired computing group.”
Fremont, Calif.-based Neuralink has about 300 employees and counts Google venture among its investors.