Depression embryo screening tool MDD-PGT sparks moral backlash from AI researcher
jachiam0 · x · 2026-11-03
A startup announced MDD-PGT, billed as the first genetic predictor of depression for embryo screening: picking the lowest-risk embryo out of 10 supposedly cuts depression risk by over 40%, with claims that low-risk kids "sleep better, fight less and enjoy jokes more."
AI researcher jachiam0 pushed back strongly: while he supports screening for diseases that irreparably impair quality of life, selecting embryos by their capacity for emotional suffering triggers "moral agony." Excluding those capable of suffering from existence, he argues, saves nothing worth saving in the human experience — what we owe sufferers is our best efforts to heal them, not erasure.
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