This week, Glenn showed a deeply disturbing video of a presentation during the World Economic Forum Davos Summit promoting brain-tracking technology and how it can be integrated into our daily lives—like the workplace.
The presentation begins by showing this dystopian-like video showing how brain-tracking tech can be used in the workplace, like your employer zapping your brain waves when they detect you are daydreaming about a fellow employee or rewarding you with a bonus after tracking your productivity through your brainwaves.
The video is presented by Nita Robinson, professor of law and philosophy at Duke, who makes a chilling announcement: "Is it a future you're ready for? You may be surprised to learn that it's a future that's already arrived. Everything that you just saw in that video is based on technology that is already here today."
This technology includes brain-tracking EEG and artificial intelligence, which translates brain waves into data that is then decoded by wearable technology that is like a "Fitbit for your brain." As Robinson says, "What you think, what you feel, it's all just data that, in large patterns, can be decoded using artificial intelligence."
How effective is this technology? At the moment, these "brain FitBits" can determine "emotional states, [...] decode faces that you're seeing in your mind [...] simple shapes, numbers, your pin number to your bank account..."
...your pin number? Your privacy is no longer safe, even inside your brain.
Who owns this technology is where the issue becomes particularly troubling. Facebook's parent company, Meta, acquired brain-tracking tech company, Control Labs, in 2019, because, according to Robinson, "major tech companies are investing and helping to make these devices universally applicable in the way in which we interact with the rest of our technology." Microsoft is also creating an AI generator for website development. You can input the type of website you want to create for your business, and the AI spits out 10+ website templates to choose from.
Lastly, as Glenn says, Buzzfeed's stock is skyrocketing after its announcement that they are going to be using AI and ChatGBT to write their stories instead of real people, raising concerns that the increased use of AI technology will replace humans out of many industries, including creative positions like researching and writing.
While all of these companies are profiting and will continue to profit off of technology that is displacing human employees from their industries, Glenn warns that companies that don't integrate AI into their workspace will pay a huge price:
I have no problem using devices, but I will not replace people with machines. Now that's going to put anybody who does that in the opposite position as Buzzfeed. You'll have a hard time making money because you refuse to lose our humanity.
Companies will soon have to choose between these cutting-edge and often cost-saving technologies to preserve their human employees' roles. Individuals will also have to choose between integrating this technology, which will save time and effort in the short term but at the cost of their privacy and liberty in the long term. As Glenn says, "If you think this is something on the horizon [...] you are sadly mistaken." This technology is already here, and we have to assess how we will respond and how it becomes more integrated into our daily lives.
Glenn has already taken a stand:
I will tell you that everything we do is made by hand. We will NOT sell out and have our shows written by machines. We will do our own research and dig deep.
How will you respond?
