- Elon Musk told Neuralink staff he's frustrated with the company's slow progress, Reuters reported.
- Musk, a Neuralink cofounder, recently approached rival Synchron about a deal, Reuters said.
Elon Musk is reportedly growing frustrated with slow progress at Neuralink, his biotech company, which is seeking to implant microchips in people's brains.
Four current and former Neuralink employees told Reuters that Musk had expressed frustration to staff over slow progress. Musk recently approached the CEO of rival firm Synchron about a potential deal, per Reuters.
Neuralink and Synchron are developing brain interface technology that links brain activity to computer systems. Synchron this year beat Neuralink to become the first to conduct human trials of its tech, which began in July, whereas Neuralink has yet to start testing in humans.
Two of the four sources cited by Reuters said Musk didn't communicate his frustration about slow progress to Synchron's CEO when he reached out about a potential deal.
Reuters said it wasn't clear what a deal would look like or whether it would involve collaboration between the two companies.
Neuralink, Musk, and Synchron didn't immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment when contacted outside usual US working hours.
Musk originally said human trials of Neuralink devices would begin as early as 2020. He most recently said Neuralink hoped to begin human trials by the end of 2022.
Neuralink announced last year it's working towards giving quadriplegic people the ability to control a cursor on a computer screen via the company's brain chip, as a first application of its technology.
Musk is one of just two of the eight Neuralink cofounders who are still at the company. One of those cofounders, ex-president Max Hodak, announced in February he was investing in Synchron.
Musk tweeted in the early hours of Monday to say Neuralink would give a "progress update show and tell" on October 31.
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