Mind-reading device detects porn in China

According to the Chinese research team, the device, when worn on a subject’s head, can detect brainwave fluctuations triggered by pornography, report South China Morning Post reported on June 20.

The article reported that 15 college students aged 20 to 25 volunteered to wear the device while sitting in front of a computer screen. Each time a sensitive image appears, an alarm will sound.

In an article published on June 13 in a specialized journal, Xu Jianjun, a researcher at Beijing Jiaotong University, said the device proved that human-machine cooperation is possible “to detect bad news”.

In some countries including China, it is illegal to watch pornography. Authorities and companies in China have used artificial intelligence (AI) to warn of suspicious content. They also employ a team of professionals known as “emperor monks” (or pornography censors) to monitor videos and images posted on the internet or social media platforms.

However, sometimes AI also makes mistakes because of the limitations of image recognition algorithms, while human power is limited. According to Xu and colleagues, the new device is an attempt to use the synergy of humans and machines to achieve greater accuracy and efficiency.

The researchers say that despite the rapid development of AI technology in recent years, the human eye and brain still “beat” machines in detecting pornography, especially when the image has a context. complex. Accordingly, a nude photo hidden among ordinary images can make the viewer frown, even if it appears on the screen for only half a second.

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Using a helmet, an “emperor monk” simply sits in front of the screen and the device receives a large amount of images continuously until the sensor flashes. The developers say the new device can automatically adapt to a moderator’s brain waves and can filter out “noise” in brain signals caused by emotions, fatigue or other thoughts.

The new device is therefore supposed to help speed up pornographic censorship in China, but many questions remain. Many of the “emperors” are women, but no female volunteers have participated in the program, raising the question of whether gender affects the device’s performance.

A scientist who is studying the interaction between the human brain and machine at the China University of Science and Technology in Hefei, Anhui province, said the technology could cause ethical problems, such as as an invasion of privacy.

“There are no laws governing the use of such devices or protecting the data they collect,” the scientist, who asked not to be named, said. SCMP.

This is not the first time a “mind-reading” device has been researched in China. The Chinese military has funded the development of a mind-reading helmet for soldiers to communicate with smart weapons. Some factories in China are already using brain monitoring devices to prevent work accidents by monitoring the attention and emotions of workers.

Another recent study by Chinese scientists has found that a mind-reading robot can work alongside humans to increase assembly line productivity.