The possibility of developing mind-reading technology has been something humans have wondered about for many years. The ability to detect brainwave patterns is possible; however, the missing link is the ability to interpret them. Finally, thanks to artificial intelligence (A.I.) and machine learning, scientists can now begin to better understand the human mind. Researchers have begun to develop software that takes readouts from people’s brains and allows them to interpret the various brainwaves as the subjects match them to words or pictures. Once a person’s brain is mapped, future readouts can be read, interpreted, or used for different mind-reading or mental-control applications. MIT researchers have developed a prototype in the form of a wearable headset called AlterEgo that can recognize internal speech. So far, the system can only recognize 100 words, but researchers are in the process of expanding its vocabulary. AlterEgo could potentially be used for communication in loud environments, helping those who cannot speak, and communication during private military missions. In addition to reading and interpreting words, mind-reading research is also gaining ground in reading visuals. Though mind-reading technology and applications have a long way to go before they can be readily made available to the public, the potential to combine humans and computers is within reach.
