Move Over Cambridge Analytica, China Is Now Harvesting Data Directly From People’s Brains

While much of the western media remains engaged in privacy debates in wake of the Cambridge Analytica data leak, Chinese industry is fitting its workers with equipment to monitor their brain waves for maximising their productivity, South China Morning Post has reported.

Workers in several Chinese factories have already been outfitted with sophisticated equipment concealed in regular clothes, like uniforms and helmets, that continuously monitor their brain waves and send them to complex AI-backed systems.

Sitting atop loads of user data, these systems can detect emotional spikes indicating anger, depression and anxiety in the workers and help maximise worker output.

China has reportedly applied the technology across sectors like industry, military, public transport and state-owned companies in its quest for maximising worker competitiveness.

The emotional surveillance program is reportedly also generating results, with an official at the State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power in Hangzhou claiming that it had boosted the company’s profits by 2 billion yuan (over Rs. 2000 crore) since it was rolled out in 2014.

One of the main centres for research on the project is Neuro Cap at the Ningbo University, with the Chinese government funding it.

“When the system issues a warning, the manager asks the worker to take a day off or move to a less critical post. Some jobs require high concentration. There is no room for a mistake,” Jin Jia, an associate professor at the Ningbo University said.

While there was initial resistance from the workers over the use of the brain monitoring devices, they’ve gotten used to it now, Jia added.