Subject: Orwellian: This startup is reading the brains of Chinese schoolkids Thu Apr 11, 2019 2:22 am
A Chinese-American start-up specializing in brain-reading tech has come under fire in China, after a post to the Twitter-like Weibo showed its headbands being worn by Chinese pupils at an undisclosed primary school. The company, BrainCo, describes its Focus headband as featuring “real-time brainwave feedback and visualization,” targeted at the education, fitness and wellness sectors. Now it’s been caught in a social media controversy amid concerns in China that the wide use of tech such as facial recognition and big data could trigger the creation of a surveillance society. The headbands from BrainCo use sensors to detect brain signals and use an AI algorithm to translate the signals into focus levels in real time.