As advanced medical technology gets closer to hitting consumer markets, the necessity for guardrails on protected usage should increase. What might begin as a neural implant to help in communication could develop into a tool used to police one’s innermost thoughts.
Intrigued by the far-reaching advantages and risks of neural implants, Rachel Sava, a PhD candidate within the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, explores how a life-changing medical device can develop into a tool for surveillance by corporations and government entities in her winning submission, “Superintelligence, Superintimate,” for the fourth annual Envisioning the Way forward for Computing Prize.
Sava’s concept was inspired by an internship at IBM, where she worked on a project with the PACE Center in London. “A mentor on the project was Kevin Brown, who had himself designed one in all the earliest brain decoders — an EEG-based system he built for a colleague who had suffered a stroke that left him with locked-in syndrome,” she says. “It was this patient population for whom the body has develop into an unreliable vehicle for the mind that motivated my writing about neuroprostheses some six years later.”
Sava explains that research and applications without delay are at a “watershed moment in neurotechnology.” Using examples like corporations profiting from neural implants to watch mental productivity, or authorities policing a population for “thought crimes,” Sava said that as this tech hits consumer markets, there’s a real fear that what starts as a revolutionary medical device could transition into more dystopian usages.
Envisioning the Way forward for Computing Prize 2026: Rachel Sava
Video: MIT Schwarzman College of Computing
Presented by the Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing (SERC), a cross-campus initiative of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, in collaboration with the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences and with support from MAC3 Philanthropies, the competition invited MIT students to discover, in 3,000 words or fewer, which sector stands to realize the very best net positive impact from artificial intelligence. Students were encouraged to explore realistic technological deployments while considering potential risks and ethical concerns. All submissions were eligible for money awards with the grand prize set at $10,000.
During a live awards ceremony hosted by Caspar Hare, former associate dean of SERC and professor of philosophy, who founded the prize in 2023, three finalists each gave a 20-minute presentation on their concepts and took questions from a panel of judges and audience members.
“SERC and the donors who make this prize possible 12 months after 12 months are asking us, the subsequent generation of scientists: ‘what world do you desire to see?’ I believe it’s value taking the time to ask yourself the identical,” Sava said. “And if, because it did for me, the sentiment grows brilliant enough to motivate further motion — then it’s value giving yourself permission to explore it as deeply as you do your other academic work.”
Annually, the Envisioning the Way forward for Computing Prize asks students to look beyond technological advancement and consider the societal advantages and costs of their work from the outset. From its inception, the competition has consistently attracted undergraduate and graduate students from across a wide selection of disciplines.
“This 12 months’s submissions were amazing and included essays on brain-computer interfaces, AI and religion, AI for scientific discovery, finding efficiencies in the facility grid, and plenty of more,” says Brian Hedden, co-associate dean of SERC and a professor of philosophy, who holds an MIT Schwarzman College of Computing shared position with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. “They showed the breadth and depth of pondering happening at MIT on the social and ethics impacts of technologies.”
Nikos Trichakis, co-associate dean of SERC and the J.C. Penney Professor of Management, adds “what’s most striking about these essays is the breadth of imagination they display: the scholars move fluidly across medicine, neurotechnology, law, ethics, and public institutions, while keeping human agency at the middle. Their work is creative, rigorous, and deeply thoughtful, showing a remarkable ability to ascertain not only what AI can do, but what it should do.”
Along with awarding Sava the $10,000 grand prize, the judges recognized two runners-up with $5,000 each: Cordiana Cozier, a PhD candidate within the Department of Chemistry, for her paper on the usage of AI as a cognitive buffer for public defenders; and Strahinja Janjusevic, a graduate student within the Technology and Policy Program within the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, for his submission on agency and ownership in the sector of neural-controlled prosthetics. The judges also named 4 honorable mentions, each of whom received a $500 money prize.