The Problem With Undue Influence

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"Our hardest problem today is figuring out where does persuasion end and manipulation begins," he says. "There are a lot of inputs we don't have control over, that we never will have control over ... all of which affects my mood." In the digital age, trying to hack into our automatic reactions in ways that are harmful to us can be called 'manipulation'

We are on the cusp of an explosion of cheap, consumer-ready neurotechnology - from earbuds that gather our behavioral data, to sensors that can read our dreams. And it’s all going to be supercharged by AI. This technology is moving from niche to mainstream - and it has the same potential to become exponential.

Legal scholar Nita Farahany talks us through the current state of neurotechnology and its deep links to AI. She says that we urgently need to protect the last frontier of privacy: our internal thoughts. And she argues that without a new legal framework around “cognitive liberty,” we won’t be able to insulate our brains from corporate and government intrusion.

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