AI chips and their potential danger to our mental stability

By Ahmed Ibrahim

Security is integral to our psychological well being. So when it relates to an invention that can change our lives and minds it should be considered with the utmost care and attention.

Elon Musk revealed that his company “Neuralink”  purses human trials for its brain-machine interface to help people with “a wide range of clinical disorders”, such as those who have been paralyzed, by allowing them to interact with a computer using their minds via a brain implant.

It is currently tested in pigs and the aim is to make the brain-computer link device supercharge human communication, he said in an interview with The New York Times.

This chip would replace a piece of the skull without causing any lasting damage to the brain. “It is about the size of a coin and can replace a piece of the skull. It’s kind of like a Fitbit in your skull with tiny wires”, Elon Musk stated in a live event held by his neurotechnology startup Neuralink.

According to Musk, the project is still at a very, very primitive stage before it gets FDA approval, as it will require an intense examination to make sure it doesn’t have any adverse effects and is removable.

Expected price and mechanics of the chip

”At first it’s going to be quite expensive but that will rapidly drop,” Musk said. “I think we want to get the price down to a few thousand dollars”.

To understand it easily, we should know that Brain-machine interfaces use electrodes to translate neuronal information into commands capable of controlling external systems such as a computer or robotic arm.

This is a good part of the story. The bad part of the story is that musk hopes to read and write thoughts and memories, enable telepathic communication, and ultimately merge human and artificial intelligence.

According to Neuralink’s president, Max Hodak: “This brain’s chip will be controlled by an iPhone app that uses Bluetooth to connect”.

This means that there is an ability to be hacked and controlled by other people like what happened with Tesla cars.

The Big Tesla Hack

In 2017 a hacker called Jason Hughes managed to exploit vulnerabilities in Tesla’s servers to gain access and control over its cars, he shared the data on the Tesla Motors Club forum, and the company wasn’t happy about it.

To end this situation the head of the Supercharger network and the head of software security at Tesla made a conference call with him.

They explained to him that they prefer not to share the data, which was technically accessible through the vehicles. Hughes then agreed to stop scraping and sharing the Supercharger data.

So we can imagine what will happen if any hacker has the ability to control AI chips and broadcast evil ideas and maybe criminal, suicidal thoughts.

The experiment shows that there is no fully secured system so, take care if you will use AI chips and don’t walk after the flock.

About the author

Ahmed Ibrahim, is an Egyptian creative writer.  He enjoys writing about technology especially trends in Arabic, and English. If you would like to get in touch with Ahmed, contact him via his email at [email protected]

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