Is Australia ready for future mind-reading technologies?

Recent advancements using artificial intelligence to extract meaningful thoughts from brain waves have concerned human rights and privacy advocates, who say technology is developing at a rate faster than the law. It is the first paper that considers whether Australia is prepared for the potential applications of neurotechnologies. Neurotechnological advancements have attracted the attention of human rights scholars, national legislatures and organisations such as the United Nations Human Rights Council, prompting intense debate about whether current legal domestic and international frameworks require modification to address emerging issues, such as human rights and privacy. However, in Australia the topic of neurotechnology and its impact on human rights has not been addressed, and although ethics have been considered, there has yet to be a human rights law focus. Prominent neurotech law expert Dr Allan McCay from the Sydney Law School said the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, drafted before the onset of neurotechnology, may not fully address these technological capacities. He is calling for neurotechnology to be on the agenda for legal scholars, law reform bodies, human rights organisations and ultimately parliaments in Australia. This was outlined in the first paper to question whether we are prepared for the potential applications of neurotechnologies and what Australia should do about the human rights challenges.