(CNN) – Workers worry that in the not-too-distant future they will be sidelined by humans implanted with performance-enhancing microchips. Two-thirds of employees believe that in 2035, humans with chips implanted in their bodies will have an unfair advantage in the labor market, according to a Citrix survey of employees in the United States and Europe that was shared exclusively with CNN Business.
Although cyborgs may sound like the stuff of science fiction, they could be here before long. Thousands of people in Sweden have inserted microchips in their hands that could one day replace keys and cards. Elon Musk recently showed off a working brain implant in pigs made by Neuralink, his brain-computer interface company.
And Synchron, a San Francisco startup funded in part by the US Defense Department, is already testing an implantable wireless device that can stimulate the nervous system from the inside of a blood vessel. It has been implanted in patients with upper-limb paralysis.
There is a sharp divide between employees and C-Suite executives over the pros and cons of implanted chips. And that gap echoes a broader difference of opinion between workers and leaders over artificial intelligence and the future of technology and the role of workers at the nexus of the two. READ MORE
