A Mental Trespass? Unveiling Truth, Exposing Thoughts, and Threatening Civil Liberties With Noninvasive AI Lie Detection

Imagine an app on your phone or computer that can tell if you are being dishonest, just by processing effective features of your facial expressions, body movements, and voice. People could ask about your political preferences and your sexual orientation and immediately determine which of your responses are honest and which are not. In this article, we argue why artificial intelligence-based, noninvasive lie detection technologies are likely to experience a rapid advancement in the coming years, and that it would be irresponsible to wait any longer before discussing their implications. To understand the perspective of a “reasonable” person, we conducted a survey of 129 individuals and identified accuracy and consent as the critical factors. In our analysis, we distinguish two types of lie detection technologies: 1) “truth metering” and 2) “thought exposing.” We generally find that truth metering is already largely within the scope of existing U.S. Federal and State laws, albeit with some notable exceptions. In contrast, we find that the current regulation of thought-exposing technologies is ambiguous and inadequate to safeguard civil liberties. In order to rectify these shortcomings, we introduce the legal concept of “mental trespass” and use this concept as the basis for the proposed legislation.