BEIJING: China has been paying more attention to the ethics of brain-computer interface research, as both it and the United States, the world’s two leading technological powers, have recently made breakthroughs in the area.
The Ministry of Science and Technology issued guidance early this month on the ethics of BCI research, aiming to guide the conduct of research and prevent ethical risks in research and the application of the technology.
This guidance, developed by the Artificial Intelligence Ethics Subcommittee of the National Science and Technology Ethics Committee, outlined six basic principles for researchers and institutions. The first principle emphasized that BCI research should be “moderate and harmless”, with the fundamental purpose of “assisting, enhancing, repairing human’s sensory and motor functions, or improving human-computer interaction capabilities, to enhance human health and welfare”.
In addition, research should respect participants’ rights to be informed and make autonomous decisions, ensuring the maximum integrity of the human brain in terms of structure, function and consciousness, it said.
Moreover, research should ensure high-quality design, effectively control risks, conduct ethical and data security reviews of plans and results, and promote risk monitoring throughout the process to protect participants’ safety, privacy, data security and legal rights. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
