Policy Brief No. 231 — March 2026
Anticipating the MindMachine: Governance Innovation for Frontier Technologies B. Courtney Doagoo
Key Points → Many jurisdictions around the world have been scrambling to address complex questions about generative artificial intelligence (AI) and intellectual property (IP) law. Authorship has been at the centre of the generative AI copyright debate, as some generated outputs are becoming almost indistinguishable from human-authored works. → This debate will soon expand to include additional subsets of frontier technologies such as braincomputer interfaces (BCIs), and different sets of regulatory frameworks. → Anticipatory governance, using strategic intelligence, can assist policy makers to develop a forward-looking proactive governance structure and process. This strategy does not mean rapid or over-regulation but instead calls for a systemslevel evolution in the way jurisdictions approach governance for frontier technologies as they emerge and converge.
Statement of the Issue The field of BCIs is emerging and gaining traction in both therapeutic and non-therapeutic applications (Policy Horizons Canada 2025, 61–63) and has recently made headlines with the reported interest of a certain generative AI giant (Bort 2025). While not commercially scaled, numerous examples of BCIs are emerging that allow users to create works with their brain activity (Pinegger et al. 2017; AAAS Art of Science and Technology Program 2023; Vanutelli, Salvadore and Lucchiari 2023). Coupled with AI, these applications have produced creative outputs such as music and works of visual art that push the boundaries of machine-assisted human authorship (Aguero 2024; AAAS Art of Science and Technology Program 2023; Pinegger et al. 2017; Vanutelli, Salvadore and Lucchiari 2023). There are various categories of BCI applications and methods of composition that can effectuate an artistic output. Some of these applications are active and others are passive. It is ultimately the level of human authorship translated through