As the world relies more on technology, employers are also keen on using them to understand what is in their employees' minds. For some time now, some tech companies have started offering mind-reading devices that will allow bosses to know what their workforce needs.
Neural sensors have become reliable and affordable to support commercial trials in gathering data about employee productivity. These projects happen in offices, factories, farms, and airports. The companies that sell these mind-reading devices are certain that they can improve people's lives.
A man wears a brain-machine interface, equipped with electroencephalography (EEG) devices and near-infrared spectroscope (NIRS) optical sensors in a special headgear to measure slight electrical current and blood flow change occuring in the brain at Japanese auto giant Honda's headquarters in Tokyo on March 31, 2009.
Workplace Brain Scanning
The kind of neurotech that allows employers to know what their employees are thinking is currently available but it is nowhere close to reading people's minds. IEEE Spectrum reports that neurosensors detect electrical activity in different parts of the brain, including the patterns of that activity, to correlate with different feelings and physiological responses, like stress, focus, and attention time to stimuli.
These data can be used to help employees become happier in their work and workplace. Today, two of the most interesting innovators are the InnerEye and Emotive. The fundamental technology behind the two companies is in using electroencephalography (EEG), which is not new as it has been around for a century and is commonly used in medicine and neuroscience research.
Subjects in pilot projects were subjected to 256 electrodes being attached to their scalp with conductive gel to record neural electrical signals in different parts of the brain. The more electrodes or channels, the more researchers could get a better spatial resolution in reading the results. That means they would have a better chance of recognizing neurons linked to specific electrical signals.
The new technology has brought EEG out of clinics and laboratories into the consumer marketplace. More so, it paved the way for a new class of "dry" electrodes that works even without the use of conductive gel, which is a significant reduction in the number of electrodes to gather data and advances artificial intelligence for better data interpretation. Some EEG headsets are also available.
Georgetown University Medical Center chief of neuroethics studies James Giordano said that experts believe that neurotechnology is mature and ready for commercial applications and is no longer science fiction.
InnerEye and Emotive
InnerEye is an Israeli company that uses headsets combined with machine learning that can read the innate power of the human mind. According to Futurism, the company's technology has the feature to help workers eliminate indecisiveness and work faster than before.
As the company website wrote, InnerEye combines the best of humans and machines by connecting them. This may sound dystopian, but it is not the only company that is exploring the burgeoning markets as other employers have invested as well in other companies.
Another company with similar features is the Silicon Valley neurotech company Emotiv. The San Francisco startup claims that its wireless EEG headsets could track the well-being of its employees.
It is a tool to enhance productivity by ensuring employee wellness. Although InnerEye might help their employees make mindless, quick decisions like a superhuman, Emotiv is concerned with what makes employees happy.
Tan Le, Emotiv's CEO, and co-founder told Spectrum that they are cognizant of choosing partners that will responsibly introduce the technology as they have a genuine desire to empower employees.
RELATED ARTICLE: Connecting Computer To Brains: Ethical Dilemmas of Using Neurotech
Check out more news and information on Neurotechnology in Science Times.
