Chinese BCIs Prove Scary

This piece, by Onno Berkan, was published on 09/24/24. The original article, by Emily Mullin, was published in Wired Magazine.

A “homegrown” BCI revealed at a tech forum in Beijing appeared to allow a monkey to control a robotic arm through the power of its thoughts. While similar systems, allowing individuals to control paralyzed limbs, exist in the US, it was unknown that China had advanced this much.

As analyst William Hannas writes, China has “typically lagged behind the US in invasive BCIs”, but seems to be catching up quite rapidly, and seems keen on using this technology on the general public, just as Elon Musk wants to (see “Neuralink Patient Zero”.)  In fact, new ethical guidelines by the Communist Party include “cognitive enhancement of healthy people” as a research goal, stating that “Nonmedical purposes such as attention modulation, sleep regulation, memory regulation, and exoskeletons for augmentative BCI technologies should be explored and developed to a certain extent, provided there is strict regulation and clear benefit.”

There is hope though, as a deeper dive reveals a reluctance to “replace or weaken human decision-making capabilities”. China’s efforts also aren’t unique, as several US companies like Emotiv and Neurable are also developing BCIs for cognitive enhancement. The main cause of concern in China’s case is the close link between its scientific advancement and military interests.

As professor Margaret Kosal puts it, the US “has not explicitly linked [its] civilian science with [its] military research”, while China has. Kosal argues that China is more likely to adopt the use of BCIs on a wider scale than the US… The results of which remain to be seen.

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