OK, it’s getting harder and harder to dispel the myth that AI is going to completely upend society as we know it.
I’m only half joking at this point.
Each week brings yet another exciting but slightly terrifying new headline. But this week’s entry was on a completely different level than usual.
The next big frontier of AI has just been confirmed: reading human thoughts.
This natural language AI program works with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) sensors to translate a person's thoughts directly into text without surgically implanted electrodes.
It doesn't pick up word for word what test subjects were thinking, but the system does something I think is almost more impressive: It captures the meaning.
For example, after the participant heard a recording of someone saying, “I don’t have my driver’s license yet,” the subject’s brain activity was loosely translated into “She has not even started to learn to drive yet.”
It’s not perfect, but reading through the rest of the results had my jaw on the floor.
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It’s the Greatest Accessibility Technology Ever Created
The benefits of having a non-invasive way to interpret brain activity like this vastly outweigh the downsides.
Imagine a world where people with neurological conditions affecting speech can clearly communicate with the outside world without typing or using clunky eye-tracking software.
The technology is still in its infancy, but the team behind this revolutionary innovation has already demonstrated its potential.
It’s not the first time we’ve decoded thoughts from brain activity. But previous attempts required electrodes that were surgically attached to the patient's brains.
This new approach instead focuses on the flow of blood to each region of the brain, captured by fMRI machines.
I know what you're thinking — it goes without saying that there are some glaring ethical concerns here.
The same decoder that helps kids with speech disabilities could potentially be exploited for unintended purposes, like surveillance by governments and employers.
But luckily for us, mind-reading technology currently requires a setup like this:
I’d say most of us aren't at risk of accidentally stumbling into an fMRI machine unintentionally. The creators of the study also claimed that test subjects could trick the system by thinking random thoughts, meaning participation is purely optional — for now.
Almost overnight, the world has begun to debate the idea of “mental privacy.” Instead of a Star Trek plotline, it could soon become federal policy.
If this still hasn't convinced you that AI is going to become the biggest tech of the decade, I don’t think anything will do it. I can’t imagine any more exciting application than mind reading.
As someone who has been following AI since these programs were first made available to the public, consider this me smacking some sense into you.
We can even begin to imagine where this tech is going to take us. It’s not even remotely comparable to anything that has existed before now.
We know one thing for sure, though. Your average PC or smartphone is NOT ready for AI.
It’s not remotely fast enough, nor does it have the necessary components to take full advantage of AI programs.
That means one thing: a hardware race that will eclipse even the early iPhone days.
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