Book Reports # 54 : Can AI Read Your Mind?
Begin: 11/3/2024
Finish: 1/18/2025
Title: Can AI Read Your Mind?
Author: Avery Hurt
Why I choose to read this book:
Understand how Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are used to analyze our speech and decode our thoughts.
What I learned from this book:
New Brain Coding Technology:
Brings us one step closer to mind reading. Neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) are researching the brain activity behind speech, that precise and delicate neural choreography by which lips, jaw, tongue, and larynx produce meaningful sound. They implanted an array of electrodes between the outer and inner membranes of the brain, directly over the area of the brain that control speech. They detected distinct patterns of brain activity associated with specific sounds, each vowel and consonant, each duh, guh, ee and ay sound that combine to form words. They used machine learning, a form of Artificial Intelligence, to analyze the patterns. They saw the benefit for people who have lost their ability to speak. Once people’s words and sentences are reconstructed through analysis of their brain patterns, the words can be displayed as text on a screen and the words a person is trying to say can be translated into a computer generated voice and facial movements. Enabling a paralyzed person to communicate not just with speech, but with facial expression as well.
Neuroscientist at University of Texas at Austin are on a less invasive method for peering into the mind. They use functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to monitor brain activity. They use a machine learning system called a “Semantic Decoder” to match each word or phrase with a particular pattern of brain activation. They build a model of a person’s brain and then when they get new brain recordings from that person, the can use the model to generate a sequence of words that predicts what the user is hearing or imagining. It is actually their thoughts, and what they are imagining. An example of the capability was when one participant listened to the words, ” I didn’t know whether to scream, cry, or run away. Instead I said “leave me alone!”, the AI decoded that thoughts as ” started to scream and cry, and she just said “I told you to leave me alone. You can’t hurt me”. It is not perfect, but it is shockingly good for using fMRI.
Terrifying New Frontier:
All the research to date has not crossed the threshold into mind reading – at least not yet. These methods was intended to work with cooperative participants, who volunteer to spend 16 hours having their brains scanned while the listened to stories from the podcast. This provided researchers with an abundance of data about the activity of the volunteer’s brain while they listening to spoken words. The AI then use this database to seek patterns it could match to specific words and sentences. But the data using this method did not seem to be transferable. AI could not decode the thoughts of another person based on training data from a participant’s brain. The technology is in its infancy and it’s conceivable that it could be used to read a person’s thought against their will in the future.
Advancement:
Technology is advancing very fast. Neuroscientist has shared that the brain data may be transferable after all. They could decode a second person’s thought by using a larger data set from the first person, though the technique require at least a small amount of training data from the second person. While the accuracy of this method so far is limited, it will improve as computing power increases. AI is making brain coding much faster.
The Potential Privacy Implication:
Developing any form of “thought reading” technology are hard to imagine when the technology is Medical Application such as to help paralyzed people regain the ability to communicate, these are covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the health care industry. Companies providing this technology for use outside Health-Care setting aren’t bound by those same privacy regulations or ethical standards. Wearable devices as well as apps that can read and record brain data are already available commercially. These devices can reveal more about what you are thinking and feeling than you might be comfortable with and information these devices collect doesn’t belong to you. Every single one of the agreements for commercial Neurotech devices and apps give ownership of all the user’s brain data to the company that collects it.
Future Developments:
Though the risks of misuse of the technology are real, the potential benefits are enormous. It opened the door to understanding the nature of human thoughts. This technology as an aid to building better brains and developing effective ways to teach and learn. Data can be used in targeted ads and manipulative technologies. We have to find a solution to balance the need for privacy with opportunity for medical advances.
How will this book contribute to my success upon my release:
This topic is part of the Digital Economy today. Understanding the latest development in AI to decode the brain and the implication of the new development on our privacy. This book improves my analytical and critical thinking skills. This information will be shared with communities which I hope to volunteer my teaching, tutoring and mentoring services.
