July 3, 2017
Keio University
Associate Professor Junichi Ushiba of the Department of Biosciences and Informatics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University (Rehabilitation Neuroscience Laboratory), in collaboration with research groups from Germany, the United States, Canada, and Switzerland, has formulated three ethical guidelines to be observed for the rapid societal deployment of brain-machine interface (BMI) technology and published them as a statement in *Science*, one of the world's top three academic journals in the life sciences, in its issue published on June 30, 2017 (U.S. Eastern Time).
Currently, the technological development of BMI, which directly connects the brain and machines, has advanced significantly, and companies such as Facebook, Neuralink, and Panasonic have successively announced the commercialization of BMI. On the other hand, ethical concerns, such as the risk of thoughts being read by BMI and the pros and cons of humans becoming cyborgs, are rapidly spreading in society. It is hoped that this statement will encourage companies working on the industrialization of BMI to comply with and disclose their codes of conduct, and that it will become a global standard for the ethical implementation of BMI. Furthermore, it is expected to lead to social acceptance based on a correct understanding of BMI and to scientifically appropriate legal frameworks.
For the full press release, please see below.