#rp25 speaker Janosch Delcker: Will our thoughts no longer be free?

As researchers and powerful tech companies are developing tools to understand what we think and feel – often away from public scrutiny – our mental privacy and autonomy is at stake. At #rp25 Janosch Delcker shows what governments must do to protect our thoughts and shares tips on how to stay in control. How can we navigate a future in which our thoughts may not be as free as they are today? 

New technology such as "Mind-reading AI" has the potential to transform mental healthcare and help patients with previously untreatable conditions. However, it can also be misused for nefarious purposes - from manipulating our opinions all the way up to forms of mind control. Through years of investigative research and dozens of interviews, tech journalist and futurologist Janosch Delcker has gained access to the labs and companies working on these technologies. In his new book, "Der Gedanken-Code: Wie künstliche Intelligenz unser Denken entschlüsselt und wir trotzdem die Kontrolle behalten" (‘The Mind Code: How artificial intelligence is decoding our thoughts and how to stay in control’)  he describes both opportunities and alarming risks that come with this new technology. He further outlines steps to ensure that these powerful tools serve humankind's best interests, proposing "neuro rights," that are needed to protect our cognitive freedom.

Janosch Delcker has been covering artificial intelligence since it was considered blue-sky research and reporting on it was often viewed as geeky niche journalism. Over the past decade, he has documented AI's foray into the mainstream. In 2018, Politico named him the world's first AI correspondent. Until 2025 he was chief technology correspondent at Deutsche Welle, reporting on AI from around the world. For his reporting, he has won several awards, including the national award of the US Foreign Press Association.

The motto of re:publica 25 is ‘Generation XYZ’. What is your message for future generations with regard to the digital society?

Janosch Delcker: “As we delegate more and more tasks to machines, let's not forget what it means to be human—what makes our minds and each of us unique, and what no AI system in the world can duplicate.”