Maybe a half-step beyond “I know it when I see it.” PC Gamer repeats reports of some strange technological applications allegedly being tested in China, in the form of a helmet that detects the brainwave patterns associated with viewing pornography:
Porn has been illegal in China since the People’s Republic was formed in 1949, so censorship is a pretty big player over there, if you weren’t aware already. AI bots have, for some time, been set loose on the web in a bid to detect and flag any indecent imagery found. ‘Porn appraisers,’ or jian huang shi, the majority of whom are women, are also in position to help catch what the AI misses, but a lot of things still slip through these barriers and filter out to the porn-starved general public.
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In order to improve and automate the censorship that is already going on, Beijing Jiaotong University researchers developed the ‘mind-reading’ helmet, which looks more like a shower cap covered in wires, to maximise the efficiency of it’s current efforts. It’s able to detect pornographic imagery with high accuracy, and is even able to filter through potentially detracting brain waves caused by emotional states, low energy levels, and random thoughts.
The research participants consisted of 15 male volunteers, aged 20-25, who I’m assuming were shown ‘straight’ porn (homosexuality is legal but still widely frowned upon in China(opens in new tab)).
Researchers note that the technology worked almost every single time participants were presented with explicit imagery. However, it did trigger some false alarms. Researchers blame the 80% accuracy on inadequate levels of training material.
It’s assumed that these will be tools to help porn appraisers do their jobs more effectively; rather than clicking through hundreds of images a day, assigning them either a pass or fail on the horny scale, they can be shown a bulk of images in quick succession, and the computer will use their brainwave data to do the rest.