If they succeed there will be unexpected consequences. They are essentially creating a hybrid. Except it is a hybrid between related species. Those are almost always sterile.
You can take one strand of DNA and bind it with an unrelated strand. Here’s what we do not understand. You may have the genes for blue eyes, black eyes and brown eyes. But, usually, only one of those manifests. That’s because there’s a code reader that slides along the strands and decides which of those genes will manifest. Nature has had millions of years to work out how to do this with 99.99% accuracy. What they’re doing is like slapping the side of a tube TV to improve the picture. Sometimes it works and you don’t have idea why. The human genome is enormously more complex. Nature is going to have a good laugh, but I’m not sure the people created this way will think it’s very funny.
Cloning is also problematic given our limited knowledge and crude techniques..
The clones are not exactly perfect copies...
I saw where commercial companies now will produce a clone of a beloved pet... I would not do this, the clone looks the same but it’s not so I’d rather just remember Fido and leave it at that.