Consent in flux: when brain‑computer interface embodiment undermines informed consent
Yue Zhao, Yuan Lin · 2026
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Description
Yue Zhao and Yuan Lin published a 2026 ethics analysis of informed consent for invasive brain-computer interfaces. The prompt was China's approval in March 2026 of the first such device for clinical use anywhere. Their worry is diachronic. A participant consents to later removal, but after years of use the device may become part of how the person acts and experiences themselves. Removal may then feel like losing a faculty rather than ending an experiment.
Change alone, the authors argue, does not void consent, since many treatments transform self-understanding. The problem is the combination of not knowing what life with the device is like, cognitive extension, and functional dependence. They propose dynamic consent with periodic re-consent, continuing ethics oversight for implanted participants, and separating research withdrawal from consent to removal, guided by a decision algorithm. Consent, in short, must be revisited as the person-device relationship evolves.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Yue Zhao, Yuan Lin |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 85043 |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |