ABSTRACT
This book chapter clarifies the unique status of BCI enhancement as symbiotic augmentation based on three distinct characteristics, which we derive from evidence pertaining to empirical cases of implanted patients. First, the source of augmentation is provided by a physical device implanted in human brains, which the users incorporate into the sense of bodily self-ownership. Second, the device is an AI-empowered system with which the human subject trustworthily interacts as with an intelligent agent. Third, the use of the device creates a transformative experience for the user, which shifts the subject's self-understanding from the sense of a single individual to that of two co-joined individuals. Due to these characteristics, this chapter proposes that BCI types of augmentations are best evaluated under the ethical framework of human–AI symbiosis. This chapter clarifies the concept of symbiotic augmentation and shows how the symbiotic ethical framework aids the users to coherently integrate the changes to personal self-understanding, prevents possible identity crises, and improves acceptance of the device's augmentative aid.
