Nita Farahany, author and Professor of Law at Duke University, says that new advancements in AI may threaten the public’s right to privacy. On October 17th, the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts hosted Prof. Nita Farahany to discuss the ethical, legal and social implications of new technology.
Gregg Caruso, Professor at the Patrick J Wade Center for Applied Ethics at Fairfield University, opened the event by highlighting the Quick Center’s mission of curriculum, research and outreach. Caruso gave a quick overview of the ethical implications of AI, mentioning the rapid growth of the neurotechnology market, expected to reach $21 billion by 2026.
“Neurotechnology is technology that can detect, interpret, and translate signals in the brain,” said Caruso.
With such technology evolving quickly, Caruso raised concerns about the collection and use of personal data by tech companies.
Farahany started her presentation by speaking on the current state of technology in our lives. She explained the heightened presence of AI in recent technology, changing not only our relationship with technology, but our interactions with each other through social media.
“It develops and enables algorithms that precisely target each and every one of us, and it’s changing the atmosphere in other fields where AI wasn’t even considered a few years ago.” explained Farahany.
She explained the negative effects of current technologies, highlighting sleep disturbances, higher feelings of loneliness and depression, and overall addiction to technology. Farahaney revealed that the average person feels an urge to check their phone every 10 minutes and explained that most audience members will check their phones at least 4 times throughout her speech.
“Tech companies, in order to enable services to be free, have to keep you on the device as often as possible. In order for them to make money, they have to be able to make advertising revenue, which means algorithms are designed to make you compulsively come back to the app.” said Farahany.
She then moved to the topic on everyone’s minds, “Where Are We Going?” She highlighted tech such as neurotechnology and EEGs, being used on a small scale in some companies. However, she believes these are likely to spread in the future. The current state of neurotechnology, as explained by Farahany, is the wearable technology market consisting of smartwatches, smart rings, etc. She explained that neurotech is developing rapidly and will soon spread to other markets.
“What’s in your smartwatches or devices is a sensor that monitors your heart rate, or how many steps you’ve taken in a day, your brain activity will soon be monitored as well.” said Farahany.
Farahany gave examples of EEGs, technology worn as a forehead band that can visualize and translate brain waves. She explained that AI paired with the EEG can now interpret accurate translations of what a person’s brain is seeing, hearing, and even feeling. This has been put into practice already in China’s school systems.
Farahany referenced a 2019 article published by the Wall Street Journal about the Chinese government’s decision to have students wear EEG headbands that notify the teacher and the child’s parents if their mind wanders during class. Farahany explained another current use of EEG technology is the Smartcap, which is worn as a baseball cap. It monitors heavy machinery workers’ brain waves to calculate how fatigued they are at work, and is projected to spread to aviation and public transportation jobs in the future. Farahany mentioned that since then, the technology has been purchased by Meta for about $1 billion dollars. Fairfield Sophomore, Brandon Ally, shared his opinion on the issue.
“The technology being used in China is honestly frightening. Tech being used to essentially manipulate children and the way they think definitely was scary. I think that kind of technology will have a very negative effect on the children it’s used on,” said Ally.
Farahany then moved to the possible pros and cons of EEGs and neurotechnology in the future. Something to look forward to, according to Farahany, is the advancements in mental health care.
“Imagine having the power to have insights about what’s happening in your brain and having metrics that track your stress levels, attention levels, and the earliest stages of different onset diseases,” said Farahany.
Farhany explained that mental health disorders will become so much easier to treat with a person’s mood being monitored by their brain waves. She went on to explain that even a condition like chronic migraines can be managed better with EEGs that can predict a migraine hours in advance.
A con of EEGs and neurotechnology are the concerns of privacy and manipulation. Farahany explained that the Smartcap, originally used for monitoring fatigue, was being used to manipulate Chinese workers.
“Already there’s evidence, for example, with communist messaging, and workers’ emotional response to the information being monitored and given to the state.” she explained.
Another con of neurotechnology is cognitive warfare. A recent case, Farahany explained, of cognitive warfare is described as Havana Syndrome, where US diplomats in different embassies around the world reported ringing in their ears, vertigo, and headaches. The National Academies of Science reported the disturbance to be caused by a microwave-like weapon to target American embassies. Farahany explained it’s still heavily disputed where the attack came from, with theories of Russian or Chinese involvement.
“Since the attack, NATO has described cognitive warfare as the sixth domain of warfare, that is not just information warfare, but a development of technology to target and disorient the human brain,” explained Farahany.
Despite her concerns, Farahany encouraged the audience to be hopeful. She explained the efforts several nations have gone to in order to preserve the right to liberty and privacy.
“There are now numerous countries that are due to vote in November 2025 and finally, there are efforts that are being launched in the United States in partnership with other communities like the Uniform Laws Commission, the American Law Institute, and the European Law Institute,” said Farahany.
Farahany closed by encouraging the audience to become advocates for a future where digital technology benefits our brains and mental experiences.