The AI Disruption Speaker Series: Nataliya Kosmyna

Dr. Kosmyna is a Research Scientist at MIT Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces group and a Visiting Faculty Researcher at Google. She has over 15 years of  experience in developing and designing end-to-end brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). Coming from a background in artificial intelligence, neuroscience and human-computer interaction (HCI), she is passionate about the idea of creating a partnership between AI and human intelligence, a fusion of the machine with the human brain.

Nataliya obtained her Ph.D in 2015 in the domain of non-invasive Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs). Most of her projects are focused around BCIs in the context of consumer grade applications. Nataliya is a public speaker, author of multiple research papers and reviewer of numerous professional journals and conferences. Dr. Kosmyna often collaborates with teams from Boston Dynamics, Microsoft Research, NASA.  Additional information on Nataliya's work is available on her MIT people page.

Abstract:
For millions of years, human intelligence set the standard. But now, the lightning pace of tech has left us gasping, struggling to keep up with our own cognitive demands. AI has pushed civilization into overdrive, yet what we are ultimately doing is burning terawatts of power on data centers and excluding humans from this growth. We have built systems that are prefixed ‘smart’, but not smart enough to break free from their own inefficiency.

In this talk, Dr. Nataliya Kosmyna will argue that we need to start creating more seamless AI interfacing directly with our brains, achieving the same outcomes with the brain’s energy consumption levels. 

Technology should amplify our creativity, not snuff it out. It should fuel social interactions, not isolate us. The goal is not to replace human thought, but to propel us into a Type II civilization. 

Instead, we are trapped in a dystopian remix of 1984 — 2025’s version — where digital censorship and surveillance threaten to choke innovation in nations that refuse to play along.

This talk will explore critical questions: What should define ownership in the age of AI and at what cost? 

It is time to reclaim the conversation — because true evolution should never be about creating more artificial intelligence. It is about evolving the most powerful source of intelligence: Your Mind.

About the speaker series:
The CIRSS Speaker Series continues in Fall on the new theme of “The AI Disruption.” Our speakers will discuss how recent advances in AI have reshaped their research — what has been made easier and what has become more difficult — and reflect upon its broader disruptive impact on society.

We meet most Wednesdays, 9am-10am Central time, in Zoom. Everyone is welcome to attend. More information, including upcoming speaker schedule and links to recordings, is available on the series webpage. For weekly updates on upcoming talks, subscribe to our CIRSS Seminars mailing list. Our Fall series is led by Yuanxi Fu and Timothy McPhillips, and supported by the Center for Informatics Research in Science and Scholarship (CIRSS) and the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.