In 2017, Facebook announced that it was working on a brain-computer interface designed to let users type by simply ‘thinking words’. Explaining the idea in a Facebook blog post, the company says; “Imagine a world…where you could connect with others in a meaningful way, regardless of external distractions, geographic constraints, and even physical disabilities and limitations.”

Progress on this concept has continued and soon, they will reveal the device that will make the ‘mind-reading headset’ a reality. Whilst images of a dystopian future are conjured up at the thought of devices that can wirelessly tap directly into your thoughts, Facebook is first focusing on a device that would help patients with neurological damage speak again. Collaborating with researchers at the University of California in San Francisco, the company hopes to build a device that would analyse brain activity in real time and allow them to “demonstrate real-time decoding of speech in an interactive, conversational setting.” “Being able to recognise even a handful of imagined commands, like ‘home’, ‘select’, and ‘delete’ would provide entirely new ways of interacting with today’s VR systems – and tomorrow’s AR glasses,” says Facebook. In an article published in the journal Nature Communications, the team of researchers shared their latest progress on the ‘mind-reading’ device. In the experiments, they asked participants a question and directed them to say the answer out loud. By examining readings from high-density electrocorticography monitors, they could figure out the answer with accuracy rates “as high as 61 percent” by looking at brain signals alone. The algorithm that decodes the activity is currently only able to recognise a small set of words and phrases but the technology giant said that its non-invasive, wearable device could one day allow people with paralysis to communicate. 

 

The team are currently aiming at creating a system capable of typing one hundred words per minute – five times faster than you can type on a smartphone – straight from your brain, according to Facebook. There is still some way to go, however. During the initial trials, the vocabulary of possible answers was extremely limited and yet once this is solved, there is the question of how to input thoughts to another person’s brain. Whilst it may end up being possible to think an email into existence, the other person still has to read it. Facebook wants the recipient not to read the email, but to feel it. At the launch of this concept in April 2017, Regina Dugan, the head of Facebook’s Building 8 showed a video of an experiment her team had set up where basic words were communicated via a sleeve worn on the arm that vibrates in specific patterns. The experiment also calls into question a number of ethical issues such as questions concerning privacy. Our thoughts are the essence of what makes us human and rapidly becoming one of the last safe havens yet to be exploited by big tech companies. As Nita Farahany, a professor at Duke University who specialises in neuro-ethics, told MIT Technology Review; “To me the brain is the one safe place for freedom of thought, of fantasies, and for dissent. We’re getting close to crossing the final frontier of privacy in the absence of any protections whatsoever.” 

 

Questions concerning how these devices can be protected against hacks are many and detailed, yet first, the mass consumer needs to get on board with the concept of having their thoughts tapped into. In addition, at present the device requires significant invasiveness, surgically placing electrodes directly on the surface of the brain. This is a very different concept to the future plan of designing a sleek headset meant for mainstream consumers. However, Facebook’s Research Lab is already exploring a promising alternative: infrared. By measuring blood oxygenation levels, Facebook believes that it can create a less bulky and far less invasive brain-computer interface. The concept of a device that can read our minds is a prime example of the speed at which technology is progressing. The emergence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution has led to billions of devices being connected to networks and the internet, while machine learning and AI are facilitating automation at unprecedented rates. Computers are rapidly becoming smarter than us and their capabilities ever more complex. Therefore, our reservations and concerns about how far we want to push this technology is the only thing standing in the way of progress. However, levelling the concerns some may have, Mark Chevillet, director of the brain-computer interface program at Facebook Reality Labs said: “We can’t anticipate or solve all of the ethical issues associated with this technology on our own. 

 

What we can do is recognise when the technology has advanced beyond what people know is possible, and make sure that information is delivered back to the community.”