51Bloomberg Businessweekfincher,wasearning$10.3milliona year
asseniorvicepresidentforengineer-
ingatTwitterwithina decadeanda half
ofleavingTheunissen’slab.“Thereis a
massiveexodusoftalentfromacademia
rightnow,”saysMackenzieMathis,the
mouseresearcher.“It’sa choicetostay
inacademia.”
Beyondthepay,manyneuroscientists
aredrawntotheprivatesectorbecauseit
tendstogivethema chancetodomore
exciting,evenweirderwork—nottomen-
tiona breakfromwritinggrantapplica-
tions.YetdecampingforSiliconValley
canalsomeancutting offpromising
linesofresearchorleavingcolleagues
adrift.WhenGardnerwenttoworkfor
Neuralink,oneofhisPh.D.students
switchedschools,onlytoseehisnext
eminentadvisertakea leaveofabsence
toworkonhisownstartup.
Li and Robson are heading to
thegovernment-fundedMaxPlanck
InstituteforBiologicalCyberneticsin
Tübingen,Germany,andstartingin
September.Thefishcouplestayonthe
publicsidebecausetheylikethefree-
domandflexibilityofwhatRobson
callsthe“playgroundsetting.”Yes,the
animalexperimentscandounnatural
thingstoharmless,helplesscreatures.
Theycanalsoencouragea humanizing
perspective—somethingwemightwant
toseeAIexhibit.
Fouryearsago,beforethey’dfin-
ishedtheirtrackablemicroscope,Liand
Robsonwereusinganadhesivegelatintokeepyoungzebrafishswimming in
placefora coupleofhours,tomeasure
howtheirneuronslitup.Onemorn-
ingthetwoarrivedatthelabtofinda
bigsurprise:A larvathey’dleftswim-
mingwasstillgoing 18 hourslater, far
beyondwhatthey’dexpected.“This
animalwasa champion,”Robsonsays.
“Perfect,”Liadds.“Hisbehavior was
perfect.”Becauseoftherigorsof the
experiment,theresearcherscouldn’t
savetheirheroforposterity,butthey
didthenextbestthing:LiandRobson
installedhismomina specialaquarium
astheirpet.TheynamedherFred, after
AmyAcker’swhip-smartcharacterfrom
theTVshowAngel.
RobsonandLisaythedevelopment
ofAIandbrain-computerinterfaces is
goingtoforcehumanstobecomemore
humane.Afterall,if oneofourgoalsis
toimbuethinkingmachineswith our
ownmorals,we’llhavetograpplemore
thanwe’reusedtowithwhatmoral-
ityis.Questionslike:Whodeservesthe
powerofenhancedthought?Shoulda
self-drivingcarchoosetosavea passen-
gerovera pedestrian?Andhowsmart do
machineshavetogetbeforethey’re con-
sideredpartofthatequation?“That’s a
fundamentallyverymoralquestion—how
doyouvaluelife?”saysLi,whostudied
philosophyasanundergrad.
“Itforcesustoberigorousinwhat
our moralityreally boils down to,”
Robson says. “Youhave to commit
FROM tosomething.”
LEFT:
PHOTOGRAPH
BY
CODY
O’LOUGHLIN
FOR
BLOOMBERG
BUSINESSWEEK;
PHOTOGRAPH
BY
CASSANDRA
KLOS
FOR
BLOOMBERG
BUSINESSWEEK
about5,000neurosciencebachelor’s
degrees and 600 doctoratesa year.
“We’vehadthisexplosionoftoolsinthe
last 10 years,” Robson says.
Team RoLi studies zebra fish, mem-
bers of the minnow family whose bod-
ies are transparent when they’re young,
which allows researchers to observe
their neurons without skull-plate sur-
geries and dental glue. A special mobile
microscope Robson and Li developed
helps them record which neurons are
activewhilethefishswim.Tocapture
differentfacetsofzebrafishbehavior,
theymightvarythecurrent—leadingan
animaltoturnawayorswimharderin
thesamedirection.
Likemanyoftheirpeers,Robson
andLiarewell-versedintherelation-
shipbetweenbrainscienceandAItech-
nology.Lastyearthecoupleboughta
Tesla,andtheytakeprofessionaldelight
inwatchingthecar’sself-drivingsys-
temsevolve.Asit dodgesothervehi-
cles,it recallsstrategiestheirzebrafish
usetoachievegoals,suchasquickly
switchingfromhuntermodetofast-
swimmermodewhentheyspota pred-
ator.Theirdeepknowledgeofsuch
behaviorscouldsomedayinformTesla
Inc.’sneuralnets,asthecompanytries
toadvanceitsself-drivingtechnology
beyond basic objectrecognition to
humanlikedecision-making.
“That’smanyordersofmagnitude
moredata,”Lisays.“Ifyouweretouse
biology,youcanessentiallycheatand
lookatwhatthesolutionshouldbe
withouthavingtoreinventthewheel.”
Robsonsayshewouldn’tmindtrying
tohelpTeslasolvethosekindsofprob-
lemssomeday.
Thefluidbordersbetweenpublicand
privateenterpriseinneurosciencehave
openedthequestionofwho’llcontrol
prospectivemergersbetweenhumans
andmachines.Theuniversitiesthatlong
performedthemostambitiousresearch
arenowrivaledbytechcompanieswith
accesstolargercomputersanddatasets.
A freshPh.D.canexpecttoearnabout
$50,000a yearata typicaluniversity,
whereasprivatecompaniesareoffering
wellintosixfigures and a vastly higher
ceiling beyond. Chris Fry, another zebraHarvard post-doc Meng Li prepares a glass
chamber with a zebra finch larva on it for imaging
on the attached tracking microscope