Neurological Enhancement Will Alter Your Business — and Your Workforce

BBMIs are at the heart of neurological enhancement technologies. These brain-altering neural interfaces enable two-way communication between a human brain and a computer or machine through electrostimulation.

BBMIs measure electrical brain activity and monitor the user’s mental state through a head-mounted wearable or an invasive implant. By capturing inputs and delivering outputs, brain augmentation will enable organizations to monetize:

• Adding capabilities (information processing, memory, learning and gaming)

• Extracting information (thoughts and emotions)

The application of this technology operates on a spectrum — the more functionality a solution has, the more “invasive” its implementation. Wearables like wristbands and headbands, for example, have more limited capabilities but, with low invasiveness, have the highest potential for mass adoption. Implants, in contrast, have greater functional potential but are highly invasive.

Businesses will see value in the form of improved employee performance and customer engagement. For example, through:

• Human upskilling: Neurotechnologies will enhance cognitive abilities such as memory, attention, learning and problem solving. Being an “enhanced” human may become a future condition of employment.

• Next-generation marketing: Brands can know consumers’ desires in real time.

• Performance: Neurological enhancement helps drivers stay alert and could soon provide personalized education and enable an aging population to work longer.

The more altruistic benefits of brain augmentation for medical care are also immense, with use cases ranging from cognitive illness prevention to restoring vision and hearing.

Neurotechnologies have the potential to enable groundbreaking achievements. Yet they also bring challenges and new vulnerabilities for individuals and companies. These include:

• Cost and technology issues: Early products in this space have a high price point, limited battery life, limited mobility, wireless connectivity options and complex integration to different data systems.

• Social acceptance: More advanced functionality means more invasive and risky solutions — including requiring surgery, which citizens may resist. Simple wearables are key to scaling up adoption. 

• Sensing: The technical ability to decode information from the brain is a key enabler of progress. AI holds potential here, especially when several inputs are combined (e.g., brain electrical activity, haptics, eye movement and heart rate).

• Security: Devices that interface directly with the human brain create security challenges and new vulnerabilities for individuals and companies.

• Ethics and privacy: Ethical concerns, such as altering users’ perceptions of reality, memories and personalities, are top of mind. Governments are already introducing neuro rights legislation to address this issue.

Strong tailwinds are pushing neurotechnologies into the mainstream. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has even approved human trials of implantable chips, and several are already underway. Anticipate a rapid evolution of brain augmentation applications, and prepare with the following actions:

• Leverage current neurotechnologies: If you already have use cases where neurological enhancements can give your organization an advantage, implement early pilots with wearables. 

• Advocate for privacy policies: Implement data anonymity and privacy policies for data from brain wearables to keep customers and business infrastructure safe. Legal teams must implement measures and rigorously monitor new neurotechnology rights laws. 

• Develop standards and regulations: Although BBMIs are a decade away from becoming commonplace, begin taking steps to protect the organization. For example, establish policies for unauthorized wearables and implantables.