Between empowerment and control: AI-enabled brain-computer interfaces, fundamental rights, and the quest for a European legal framework

Bonelli, Francesca

Between empowerment and control: AI-enabled brain-computer interfaces, fundamental rights, and the quest for a European legal framework

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Citation

Bonelli, F. Between empowerment and control: AI-enabled brain-computer interfaces, fundamental rights, and the quest for a European legal framework. 2025. handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10230/71913

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Abstract

As artificial intelligence and neurotechnologies are merging together, the borders between human cognition and digital systems are blurring. These technologies promise significant benefits in healthcare and assistive communication, but they also introduce complex legal challenges related to mental privacy, data protection, and cognitive manipulation. This thesis addresses the regulatory gap in the European Union concerning the absence of a coherent legal framework for governing AI-enabled brain-computer interfaces. The research investigates how the EU can regulate BCIs in a way that safeguards fundamental rights, anticipates dual-use risks, and supports innovation. Adopting a comparative and interdisciplinary methodology, the thesis analyses key European instruments, including the GDPR, and the AI Act, alongside national developments in Chile, Colorado (USA), and Spain. The findings reveal at least seven structural weaknesses in the EU framework: lack of recognition of neurorights; inadequate categorisation and protection of neural data; exclusion of neurotechnologies from export control regimes; weak individual safeguards under the AI Act; fragmented oversight; overlapping norms; and the absence of a strategic EU vision. By contrast, Chile has elevated neurorights to constitutional status; Colorado has granted enforceable protection to neurodata; and Spain is trying to move the European Union towards the recognition of neurorights through the promotion and adoption of ethical charters and policy papers. Based on this analysis, the thesis proposes the creation of a dedicated European legal instrument on neurotechnology, grounded in the recognition of neurorights as extensions of existing fundamental rights. It calls for precise legal definitions, stronger protections for neural data, and a centralised governance mechanism for high-risk applications, particularly in military contexts. A forward-looking and integrated regulatory approach would allow the EU to shape neurotechnology governance in line with its core values of dignity, autonomy, and democratic accountability.