BBC reveals mind control experiment – for choosing what to watch next

Paging the Daily Mail: BBC in mind-control shock! Except this story is unlikely to become a front-page scandal, since it involves viewers’ brainwaves controlling their TVs, rather than the other way around.

The broadcaster has revealed details of its latest tech experiment, which involved working with digital agency This Place to create a “Mind Control TV” prototype for use with its iPlayer catch-up service.

“It allows users to open an experimental version of BBC iPlayer and select a TV programme to view, using nothing but their brainwaves,” wrote head of business development Cyrus Saihan in a blog post that, if published on 1 April, might have been taken as a spoof.

This is entirely serious though. “It’s an internal prototype designed to give our programme makers, technologists and other users an idea of how this technology might be used in the future,” wrote Saihan.

“Our first trial run saw 10 BBC staff members try out the app, and all were able to launch BBC iPlayer and start viewing a programme simply by using their minds. It was much easier for some than it was for others, but they all managed to get it to work.”

The experiment involved viewers wearing an electroencephalography brainwave-reading headset, which translated their grey matter’s electrical activity into commands for iPlayer.

The prototype is more than a gimmick: it is part of the BBC’s research into how technology might make its services more accessible to people with disabilities.

Saihan cited people with motor-neurone disease or locked-in-syndrome as two examples of groups that might benefit from brain-computer interfaces being used for digital services.

He stressed that it remains “very early days” for this technology, with the BBC’s prototype software only able to deliver binary ‘on’ or ‘off’ instructions to iPlayer. He is already looking forward, however.

“You can imagine a world where instead of having to get up from your sofa or reach for your remote, you just think ‘put BBC1 on’ when you want to watch TV,” he wrote.

“Imagine sitting in your car and thinking ‘I want to listen to Radio 4’ and hearing the radio station come on during your commute to work. Perhaps you might be able to just think ‘give me the latest news’ and in response get served up a personalised set of news headlines.”