Biotech firm that went viral for plans to create 'nonsentient humanoids' for organ harvesting now says it was never true

A Silicon Valley longevity startup called R3 Bio is reportedly working to create nonsentient humanoid life forms whose organs can be grown and harvested for implantation in human bodies. Alice Gilman, the cofounder and chief operating officer, talked about this "biological platform that you can test on and you can map out the cross-organ interactions" in a podcast she sat for last year. She told Skyline Drive, "It’s just pretty much a heart, lungs, and everything that you would find in a body," adding, "it’s not technically alive", and there is no brain either. But the waters turned murky after she reportedly requested a pause on the show, without giving an exact reason.

Bioethical questions triggered concern

Host Mangesh Hattikudur shared that Gilman referred to these meat suits as "organ sacks". She even flagged a major problem: the less sentient they were, the less likely they were to function effectively. The project is too ambitious and unrealistic, and also raises ethical questions, while also being a bit unsettling.

Now, Futurism has reported that months after the interview, Gilman requested to keep the entire thing under wraps. Skyline Drive told the outlet that when they reached out to Gilman for a fact check a week before it was scheduled to be aired, she asked for it to be postponed. She denied that R3 Bio was working on the concept “for now" despite talking about it in detail in the interview.

The podcast team said that Gilman told them that R3 Bio was a "federal asset", hinting at government involvement. This would basically mean that the government is investing in a program working on creating an "organ sack" from which human organs can be removed and used in other bodies. She further insisted that everything she said in the interview was only theory and opinion.

However, R3 Bio said the same thing to Wired as well in March, again calling these beings "organ sacks." Investor Boyang Wang called this imagined "nonsentient, headless bodyoid for a human being a great source of organs", adding that “replacement is probably better than repair.”

Full body replacement claims

However, later reviews showed that the plan goes beyond organ harvesting. According to MIT Technology Review, cofounder John Schloendorn has often talked about “full body replacement” where heads would be transplanted onto a whole new human body. R3 Bio responded by saying that “any allegations of intent or conspiracy to create human clones or human beings with brain damage are categorically false.”

The company's website states that it “would be excited by the prospect of full-scale human organ fabrication,” while clarifying that there is "no ongoing work in this area." Why Gilman requested a postponement and what it is working on remain a mystery. However, Hattikudur feels the company is not being transparent, and no one knows what "they’ve actually achieved in the lab."