Toward a future that preserves benefits of neurotechnology for all

Rachel Sava, a PhD candidate in the Harvard-MIT Health Science and Technology program, won the Envisioning the Future of Computing Prize, for her submission on the benefits and risks of future neurotechnology advancements. PhD student Rachel Sava, winner of the Envisioning the Future of Computing Prize, explores transformative improvements and dystopian risks of neural technology. Watch Video Amanda Diehl | MIT Schwarzman College of Computing Publication Date : July 6, 2026 Press Inquiries Press Contact : Amanda Diehl Email: diehl@mit.edu MIT Schwazman College of Computing : Rachel Sava presents her Envisioning the Future of Computing Prize submission, titled "Superintelligence, Superintimate."

Credits : Photo: Gretchen Ertl Caption : The Envisioning the Future of Computing Prize, now in its fourth year, invites MIT students to identify which sector stands to gain the highest net positive impact from artificial intelligence. Credits : Photo: Gretchen Ertl Previous image Next image As advanced medical technology gets closer to hitting consumer markets, the need for guardrails on protected usage should increase. What might begin as a neural implant to aid in communication could become a device used to police one's innermost thoughts.

Sava's concept was inspired by an internship at IBM, where she worked on a project with the PACE Center in London. "A mentor on the project was Kevin Brown, who had himself designed one of the earliest brain decoders - an EEG-based system he built for a colleague who had suffered a stroke that left him with locked-in syndrome," she says. "It was this patient population for whom the body has become an unreliable vehicle for the mind that motivated my writing about neuroprostheses some six years later."