“Palantir cofounder wants a 30,000 monkey farm in the US — because AI jacked up macaque prices by 700% in seven years”

Key points

• AI accelerates drug discovery, increasing demand for macaques used in testing.
• Prices for macaques rose from about $3,000 in 2019 to over $20,000 today.
• Safer Human Medicine proposes breeding 30,000 macaques in the US over ~20 years.
• Initial stock would be 500–1,000 macaques from Asian breeding facilities.
• The plan faces animal-welfare concerns and potential regulatory or legal hurdles.