A Password To Protect Your Thoughts From Being Stolen
in the wrong hands: when someone dangerous or careless has control of something they could misuse
You might one day need a password in your head to protect your private thoughts. Scientists at Stanford University have used brain implants and AI to read the words that people say silently in their minds. This is an important step for patients with ALS who can no longer speak. One volunteer, Casey Harrell, lost his voice in 2023. Electrodes placed in his brain now help him talk with family and friends. With training, the system learned to recognize thousands of words. It could also say them back in his own recorded voice.
Reading inner speech is a major medical breakthrough. But it also raised serious questions about privacy. A tool that can read our thoughts could be dangerous in the wrong hands.
To protect people, the scientists tested an “inner password.” Another patient with ALS silently repeated the phrase “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” in her mind. The computer learned to unlock only after detecting the silent password. This protection gave patients more control over what to share.
While this new technology is a privacy risk, not all thinking happens with words. Dr. Evelina Fedorenko of MIT said many of our thoughts may not be sentences at all. For now, this means the AI system cannot unlock the full mystery of our thoughts.
Sample sentences
Genetic research can cure diseases, but in the wrong hands it could be used to create harmful experiments.
Face-recognition software could be helpful for catching criminals, but in the wrong hands it could encourage the loss of our privacy and freedom.
Nuclear technology can provide clean electricity, but in the wrong hands it can turn into a weapon.
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Scientists Say They’ve Found a Way to Vocalize the “Inner Voices” of People Who Can’t Speak