It is the latest move in a growing international effort to put guardrails around a burgeoning frontier \u2013 technologies that harness data from the brain and nervous system.<\/p>\n
Unesco has adopted<\/a> a set of global standards on the ethics of neurotechnology, a field that has been described as \u201ca bit of a wild west\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no control,\u201d said Unesco\u2019s chief of bioethics, Dafna Feinholz. \u201cWe have to inform the people about the risks, the potential benefits, the alternatives, so that people have the possibility to say \u2018I accept, or I don\u2019t accept\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n She said the new standards were driven by two recent developments in neurotechnology: artificial intelligence (AI), which offers vast possibilities in decoding brain data, and the proliferation of consumer-grade neurotech devices such as earbuds<\/a> that claim to read brain activity and glasses that track<\/a> eye movements.<\/p>\n The standards define a new category of data, \u201cneural data\u201d, and suggest guidelines governing its protection. A list<\/a> of more than 100 recommendations ranges from rights-based concerns to addressing scenarios that are \u2013 at least for now \u2013 science fiction, such as companies using neurotechnology to subliminally market to people during their dreams.<\/p>\n \u201cNeurotechnology has the potential to define the next frontier of human progress, but it is not without risks,\u201d said Unesco\u2019s director general, Audrey Azoulay. The new standards would \u201censhrine the inviolability of the human mind\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n Billions of dollars have poured<\/a> into neurotech ventures in the past few years, from Sam Altman\u2019s August investment in Merge Labs, a competitor to Elon Musk\u2019s Neuralink, to Meta\u2019s recent unveiling of a wristband<\/a> that allows users to control their phone or AI Ray-Bans by reading muscle movements in their wrist.<\/p>\n The wave of investment has brought with it a growing push for regulation. The World Economic Forum released a paper<\/a> last month calling for a privacy oriented framework, and the US senator Chuck Schumer introduced the Mind Act in September \u2013 following the lead of four states that have introduced laws to protect \u201cneural data\u201d since 2024.<\/p>\n Advocates for neurotech regulation emphasise the importance of safeguarding personal data. Unesco\u2019s standards highlight the need for \u201cmental privacy\u201d and \u201cfreedom of thought\u201d.<\/p>\n Sceptics, however, say legislative efforts are often driven by dystopian anxieties and risk hampering vital medical advances.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s happening with all this legislation is fear. People are afraid of what this technology is capable of. The idea of neurotech reading people\u2019s minds is scary,\u201d said Kristen Mathews, a lawyer who works on mental privacy issues at the US law firm Cooley.<\/p>\n From a technical perspective, neurotechnology has been around for more than 100 years. The electroencephalogram (EEG) was invented in 1924, and the first brain-computer interfaces were developed in the 1970s. The latest wave of investment, however, is driven by advances in AI that make it possible to decode large amounts of data \u2013 including, possibly, brainwaves.<\/p>\n \u201cThe thing that has enabled this technology to present perceived privacy issues is the introduction of AI,\u201d said Mathews.<\/p>\n Some AI-enabled neurotech advances could be medically transformative, helping treat conditions from Parkinson\u2019s disease to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).<\/p>\n A paper<\/a> published in Nature this summer described an AI-powered brain-computer interface decoding the speech of a paralysis patient. Other work<\/a> suggests AI may one day be able to \u201cread\u201d your thoughts \u2013 or at least, reconstruct an image if you concentrate on it hard.<\/p>\n The hype around some of these advances has generated fears that Mathews said were often far removed from the real dangers. The Mind Act, for example, says<\/a> AI and the \u201cvertical corporate integration\u201d of neurotechnology could lead to \u201ccognitive manipulation\u201d and \u201cerosion of personal autonomy\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not aware of any company that\u2019s doing any of this stuff. It\u2019s not going to happen. Maybe two decades from now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n