Neurotech and AI together threaten 'mental privacy', says Unesco

Unesco has warned that the combination of neurotechnology and artificial intelligence poses a threat to mental privacy, as it works on a new global charter on scientific ethics.

A humanoid robot at the AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva, Switzerland, on 5 July 2023. © Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP

The UN's agency for science and culture has begun developing a global "ethical framework" to address human rights concerns posed by rapid scientific advances, it said at its International Conference on the Ethics of Neurotechnology in Paris on Thursday.

Neurotechnology is a growing field that connects electronic devices to the nervous system. So far it has mostly been used to treat neurological disorders and restore movement, communication, vision or hearing.

According to Mariagrazia Squicciarini, a Unesco economist specialising in artificial intelligence, the latest neurotechnology has been supercharged by AI algorithms that can learn from data in ways never before possible.

"It's like putting neurotech on steroids," she told French news agency AFP.

Have you ever wished you could read someone’s mind?

This might not be science fiction anymore!

Neurotechnology could put our mental privacy at risk by collecting our 🧠 data.

Discover how @UNESCO is working to promote #NeuroEthics to prevent this: https://t.co/Xa6mPmOGN1 pic.twitter.com/fl1B4TI4V7

— UNESCO 🏛️ #Education #Sciences #Culture 🇺🇳 (@UNESCO) July 13, 2023

Algorithms may 'manipulate the brain'

Gabriela Ramos, Unesco's assistant director-general for social and human sciences, said the convergence of neurotechnology and AI was "far-reaching and potentially harmful".

She told the conference: "We are on a path to a world in which algorithms will enable us to decode people's mental processes and directly manipulate the brain mechanisms underlying their intentions, emotions and decisions."

• Artificial intelligence may lead humanity to extinction, industry leaders warn

In May, scientists in the United States revealed they had used brain scans and AI to turn "the gist" of what people were thinking into written words – though it involved spending several hours inside a large functional MRI machine.

Later that month, billionaire Elon Musk's firm Neuralink received approval to test its coin-sized brain implants on humans in the United States.

Explosion in neurotech investment

Squicciarini emphasised that Unesco does not believe that neurotechnology is a bad thing.

"If anything it's fantastic," she said, pointing to how the technology could let blind people see again, or paralysed people walk.

• Swiss-French team gets paraplegic walking again with thought-controlled implants

But with neurotechnology "advancing at warp speed", UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that ethical guidelines were needed to protect human rights.

Investment in neurotech companies increased by 22 times from 2010 to 2020, rising to $33.2 billion, according to a new Unesco report.

The number of patents for neurotech devices doubled between 2015 and 2020, with the United States accounting for nearly half of all patents worldwide, the report said.

The neurotech devices market is projected to reach $24.2 billion by 2027.

(with AFP)