How many times have we heard (or said) the expression “I would like to get inside your head to know your thoughts”? It's no secret that some companies are investing in this direction, and really want to do so. The first fields of application of technologies to "spy" on the brain are, needless to say, in work environments.
A growing sector
In recent years, a number of companies have sprung up offering workforce mind-reading devices.
Sounds like science fiction to you? It is not.
The Israeli startup Inner Eye, for example, has developed headsets that combine machine learning with the innate power of the human mind “helping workers,” the company says, “eliminate indecision and work faster than ever.” In the USA another startup, the Emotional, claims to be able to monitor the well-being of employees using special wireless headphones with built-in electroencephalograms.
By connecting humans and machines, InnerEye combines the best of both worlds
From the InnerEye website
Dystopian? Safe. But it shouldn't surprise us
This is a growing market, and as with other services and products seen as beneficial, employers are starting to invest.
Startups in the sector are well aware of the "disturbing" power of these technologies. For this reason they try to minimize doubts and objections with marketing, enhancing the strengths.
Which? These are tools for employee well-being and productivity, they say. They transform workers into performance “super soldiers” (according to InnerEye), or just happier people (according to Emotiv).
Could they technically monitor employees, “spy” on their mental activity?
The companies involved admit yes. On the other hand, their technologies were created precisely to do that. “But only for their own good and in their own interest,” they assure.
“The dystopian potential of this technology is not lost on us,” he says so le, CEO and co-founder of Emotiv.
We are very focused on choosing partners who want to introduce this technology in a responsible way: they must have a genuine desire to help and empower employees.
so le
Importantly, this employee marketing approach seeks to distance these devices from “bossware,” a growing sector of consumer technology committed to providing employee surveillance in an increasingly remote-working world.
On the other hand, we know: if a certain type of "old school" leader cannot keep everyone physically close to him, he wants to be able to spy on them even from a distance.
Yeah: what about privacy?
“The data from his electroencephalograms belong to the worker,” the two startups assure. And the worker must “explicitly allow a copy of them to be shared anonymously with superiors.”
Can we bet that many will do it "spontaneously", under penalty of not being hired?
Privacy aside, the crux is precisely this: it will be necessary to understand how much the needs of employers will clash with a united front of workers.
