How would you feel if your boss or HR knew what you were thinking at work?
What if you hate your job, your manager, or that nosey Karen in accounts? You might be going through a divorce and don’t want anyone to know – how would you stop thinking about it 9 till 5?
That might sound like a sci-fi film or stress dream, but it could one day be reality – so much so that the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published a full report on the potential use and misuse of neurological data.
Neurotechnology took a huge step forward last month when a team from the University of Texas created a non-invasive speech decoder that could translate what a person was thinking into words using functional MRI – essentially reading their mind.
At present, such technology is entirely bespoke. The decoder has to be trained on each individual, and can’t be swapped from person to person.
However, that may not always be the case, opening up many more ways to use – and misuse – the technology.
One area of concern raised by the ICO is how it may be adopted by employers.
‘The employment sector is likely to make increasing use of non-invasive neurotechnology to measure, record and process a variety of personal information,’ it said. ‘While employee monitoring is already a contentious area of processing, EEG systems may be integrated as part of a health and safety or risk management scheme.
‘This could see helmets or safety equipment that measure the attention and focus of an employee rolled out in high risk environments. For example, around heavy machinery or a large vehicle, especially combined with long working hours.’
Some may argue that sounds like a sensible safety precaution, but giving employers access to your thoughts may be crossing the Rubicon of data sharing.
As the report notes, tracking employee information, such as concentration, could reveal mental health data that an individual would otherwise not have chosen to share.
Discrimination is also of particular concern, given that the artificial intelligence models such technology is based on could contain bias, ‘leading to inaccurate data and assumptions about people and communities’.
In addition, neurodivergent people could be particularly disadvantaged if models are only trained on neuro-normative patterns.
‘The use of neurotech in the workplace could lead to unfair treatment,’ the ICO said. ‘An example of this could be that if specific neuropatterns or information come to be seen as undesirable due to ingrained bias, those with [such] patterns may then be overlooked for promotions or employment opportunities.’
Imagine – you’ve spent weeks prepping for a job interview. You’re more than qualified for the role, and nail every question on the day. Then you don’t get the job… because of what or how you were thinking at the time.
‘Workplaces could see increased use of neurodata recording techniques as part of the recruitment process,’ said the ICO. ‘This will aid organisations who want to identify people who fit desirable patterns of behaviour or perceived traits, like executive function. Research that combines biometric measures and organisational psychology has been called by some ‘neuromanagement’.
Is that fair?
And who will have access to this information, essentially reading the minds of prospective and existing employees? Who is responsible for it? What happens if it is hacked?
Or what if employees refuse to engage, preferring to keep their thoughts literally to themselves? Will their job be at risk?
The questions are endless, and a dystopian future all too easy to imagine.
‘To many, the idea of neurotechnology conjures up images of science fiction films, but this technology is real and it is developing rapidly,’ said Stephen Almond, ICO executive director of regulatory risk.
‘Neurotechnology collects intimate personal information that people are often not aware of, including emotions and complex behaviour. The consequences could be dire if these technologies are developed or deployed inappropriately.
‘We want to see everyone in society benefit from this technology. It’s important for organisations to act now to avoid the real danger of discrimination.’
And while governments were slow to grapple with the unintended consequences of the internet and artificial intelligence, mind-reading technology is far enough in the future that regulators can get ahead.
But employees might want to keep up to date on developments too.
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