--- title: "Companies Already Investing in Tech to Scan Employees’ Brains" description: "Employers are starting to invest in mind-reading tech, which promise to do things like maximize worker productivity and ensure employee wellness." date: "2022-11-23" modified: "2022-11-23" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/companies-investing-tech-scan-employees-brains" categories: - "Finance" - "Future Society" - "Investing" tags: - "ai" - "artificial intelligence" - "mind reading" - "the digest" --- # Companies Already Investing in Tech to Scan Employees’ Brains ![Employers are starting to invest in mind-reading tech, which promise to do things like maximize worker productivity and ensure employee wellness.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Brain Spies It's no secret that a lot of bosses out there would love to get inside their employees' heads. And now, perhaps unfortunately for said employees, they might be starting to actually do so. A number of companies have cropped up in recent years offering employers mind-reading devices for their workforce. InnerEye, for example, is an Israeli company that claim its headsets combine machine learning with the innate power of the human mind, ultimately helping workers eliminate indecisiveness and work faster than ever before. Emotiv, a San Francisco startup, claims to be able to track employees' well-being with wireless EEGs headsets. "By connecting humans and machines," reads InnerEyes's [website](), "InnerEye combines the best of both worlds." Dystopian? Sure. But these companies aren't outliers. As IEEE's [*Spectrum* reports](), this is a burgeoning market, and employers are starting to invest. ## Bossware Lite The general pitch for this device class is familiar, if not convenient: it's a tool not only for enhancing productivity, but for ensuring employee wellness. They might *technically be* monitoring employees, but only for their sake. In helping employees make quick, almost mindless decisions, InnerEye's AI turns everyday workers into super-humans. Emotiv just wants to keep workers happy. "The dystopian potential of this technology is not lost on us," Tan Le, Emotiv's CEO and cofounder, told *Spectrum*. "So we are very cognizant of choosing partners that want to introduce this technology in a responsible way — they have to have a genuine desire to help and empower employees." Importantly, this employee-forward marketing approach distinguishes these devices — in branding efforts, at least — from "[bossware]()," a growing field of consumer tech committed to offering employee surveillance in a remote work-driven world. Still, marketing is just that: marketing, and given the prevalence of datamining and the steady rise of bossware, hesitant employees can be forgiven for feeling incredulous towards mind-reading headsets, particularly for their privacy's sake. (For their part, Emotiv's Le told *Spectrum* that the data from its EEGs belongs to the worker, who has to "explicitly allow a copy of it to be shared anonymously" with higher-ups.) But even privacy aside, the jury's still out on whether workforces actually want this stuff. But based on the apparent interest from some employers, it may not ultimately be some folks' choice. "I think there is significant interest from employers," Karen Rommelfanger, who founded the Institute of Neuroethics, told *Spectrum*. "I don't know if there's significant interest from *employees*." **READ MORE:** *[Are You Ready for Workplace Brain Scanning?]()* \[*IEEE Spectrum*\] **More on bossware:** *[Us Gov to Crack down on "Bossware" That Spies on Employees' Computers]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()