A Virginia Tech study using brain scans and artificial intelligence proved scientists can essentially read people's minds.
According to The Daily Mail, the study involved a simulation in which participants were given a suitcase that they would hypothetically bring across the border and were told how probable it was there were illegal drugs in it. Each person in the study then underwent brain scans.
An AI program was used to analyze the brain scan results and determined which of the participants were "criminals," meaning it was likely their suitcases contained drugs.
The results were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"People can commit exactly the same crime in all of its elements and circumstances and, depending on their mental states, the difference could be one would go to jail for 14 years and the other would get probation," Dr. Read Montague, who led the study, told The Daily Mail.
"Predicated on which side of the boundary you are on between acting knowingly and recklessly, you can be deprived of your freedom. In principle, we are showing these brain states can be detected when the activity is taking place."
The use of AI is controversial in the science field. Many back its benefits and feel it can make humans' lives easier — including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who built an AI butler named Jarvis.
Others, such as theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author Stephen Hawking, have warned about the dangers to human life AI poses.
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