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MIND-READING AI
TURNS
THOUGHTS INTO
TEXT
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1 Warm up

Discuss the questions in pairs or small groups.

1. If you had the power to read other people’s thoughts, what would you do?
2. Do you think that we will be able to use computers with our minds in the future?
3. Can you think of any ways in which technology has helped the world of medicine?
4. Would you like to be able to read your partner’s thoughts? Why/why not?
5. Do you believe that future technology will lengthen or shorten our lives?

2 Listening for specific information

Listen to the report. Match the items mentioned with the things they relate to.

a. the number of volunteers that helped to train the AI

b. the length of time (in hours) that participants spent in a scanner training the
AI
c. the percentage of time in which the AI program managed to closely or
precisely match intended meanings with brain activity

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3 Listening for comprehension

Listen to the report again. Answer the questions true, false or not given.

1. The study relied on invasive techniques in order to translate thoughts into text.

2. The study has been published in a scientific journal.

3. Participants were required to listen to the radio in order to train the AI.

4. GPT-1 was created by OpenAI, the company responsible for ChatGPT.

5. The research team said that the AI decoder was more successful at translating individual words
than understanding gist.

6. The study is not the first to translate the thoughts of people without the ability to speak.

7. There are concerns that the fMRI technique may not be safe.

4 Reading: general vocabulary

Part A: Match the words in bold with the correct definitions.

Group 1

1. Our company has faced many hurdles in the last few years, such as the rising costs of raw materials.
(n)

2. In my local restaurant, staff have recently been supplanted by a robot waiter. (v)

3. My uncle chose to use a private healthcare provider. (n)

4. In some parts of the United States, prisoners are punished for alleged crimes via lethal injection.
(adj.)

5. Unfortunately, the doctor informed us that Nigel’s disease was incurable. (adj.)

6. There have been calls to expedite research into clean energy. (v)

a. make a process happen more quickly

b. an organisation or individual that directly offers healthcare services something that seems more
important

c. that cannot be cured

d. a problem or difficulty that must be solved or dealt with before you can achieve something

e. take the place of somebody/something (especially somebody/something older or less modern)

f. causing or able to cause death

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Group 2

1. As part of my grandfather’s regimen, he has to be given a variety of pills with his breakfast. (n)

2. Our new boss declared that she plans to streamline the company, which probably means I’ll lose
my job. (v)

3. Authorities hope to be able to contain the fire before it spreads to nearby villages. (v)

4. When I damaged my spinal disc, the pain was so severe that I couldn’t sleep. (n)

5. Sadly, the accident was fatal. There were no survivors. (adj.)

6. Thanks to stringent safety regulations, illnesses caused by food have decreased significantly in
Europe. (adj.)

a. the main joint between the bones of the spine

b. (of a law, rule, regulation, etc.) very strict and that must be obeyed

c. prevent something harmful from spreading or getting worse

d. a set of rules about food and exercise or medical treatment that you follow in order to stay healthy
or to improve your health

e. causing or ending in death

f. make a system, an organisation, etc., work better, especially in a way that saves money

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Part B: Complete the short text below with TEN of the words and phrases from the above exercise.
You may need to change the tense of the word or phrase.

Our company was one of the first to begin developing AI for use in the medical field, and because of
1
recent advances in the technology, we have been able to the process. We’re hoping
that our software will be available for use in hospitals within the next few months. We’ve already had
2
interest from private , but we would like to make the software available for wider use,
3
as we believe that it could help to battle diseases.

4
The software works by identifying problems that may develop into conditions in the
5
future, and alerting doctors so that they can act. Obviously, we’re not planning to
medical professionals – instead, we want to make their lives easier. We’re also hoping that the AI will
6
be used in care homes to manage the of residents, ensuring that they receive adequate
nutrition and support.

7
At the moment, we’re attempting to our product, so that it works more efficiently,
8
while making sure that it meets the safety checks required of any technology used in
9
the medical world. We have had to overcome a number of so far, such as the death
10
of our lead programmer in a accident and the Covid pandemic, but we are confident
in our work, and hope that the software can save many lives.

What is the difference between "fatal" and "lethal"? Can both words be used in the same context?

Part C: Discuss these questions in pairs.

1. Are food safety regulations stringent in your country, or do you think they could be stricter?
2. In which ways could AI be used to help to contain a future pandemic before it spreads?
3. Have you faced many hurdles in your professional life? How have you overcome them?
4. Are you worried that machines may one day supplant us?
5. Does everyone in your country have free access to a healthcare provider?
6. Should we expedite research into AI, or should we pause for a moment in order to implement
regulations?
7. Do you think that most diseases we currently believe to be incurable will, in the future, be cured?

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5 Pre-reading task: reading for general understanding

You are going to read a text about five potential uses for AI in medicine. Scan the text quickly and
match the headings with the correct paragraphs. One heading cannot be matched to any of the five
paragraphs and should be marked ‘Not given’.

Not given Paragraph A Paragraph B Paragraph D Paragraph E

1. Disease diagnosis and detection

2. Pandemic prevention

3. Drug development

4. Mental health monitoring

5. Medicine assisted surgery

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Artificial intelligence in the medical world

AI has developed something of a bad reputation lately. While many of the concerns may well be
valid, the technology has the capacity to revolutionise the health industry in particular. We look at
five interesting applications for AI in the medical world.

A. New drugs can take a long time to become available to the public. Thanks to stringent safety measures, local and
international regulations and other hurdles, a miracle cure may take years to arrive in the hands of those who
need it most urgently. Artificial intelligence could help to expedite the process, from drug discovery and design
to streamlining testing methods. AI could also help to keep costs at a minimum by optimising manufacturing
processes, ensuring that new medicines are affordable and widely available. This could allow us to add to our
arsenal of existing treatments, and potentially even discover cures for diseases that are currently considered to
be incurable.

B. Many diseases prove lethal because they haven’t been detected in time. Existing methods depend on individuals
who may miss vital clues due to a variety of factors. Patients who are misdiagnosed with conditions may also
receive unnecessary treatments that prove harmful rather than beneficial, resulting in needless suffering and
potential lawsuits. AI can help to reduce human error, allowing for a speedy, accurate diagnosis. A recent study
showed that a computer algorithm was capable of detecting cancer in patients with a high degree of accuracy.
Such research could prove crucial in the future, enabling clinicians to rapidly diagnose and treat potentially fatal
diseases before they can spread.

C. With the population rapidly growing around the world, healthcare systems are likely to struggle to provide the level
of care needed on an individual basis. Artificial intelligence could be used to create virtual healthcare providers,
which could act as a family doctor or medical specialist in extreme cases. Ideally, the technology would supplement
humans rather than supplant them, offering round-the-clock monitoring of patients in intensive care. AI could even
design personalised regimens for patients, ensuring that each individual receives the correct level of nutrition and
cocktail of medicines during their hospital stay. With instant access to each person’s medical history, mistakes
would, hopefully, become a thing of the past.

D. While many of us would feel uneasy at the idea of a robot performing an operation on us, current surgical
procedures are not without risk. Spinal disc surgery, for example, has a failure rate of around fifty percent, with
many patients going on to experience post-operative complications, some of which may prove fatal. AI could
be employed as a surgical aid, improving pre-operative planning by granting surgeons access to vast quantities
of data. During operations, robotic arms connected to computers would, in future hospitals, make more precise
procedures easier to perform, lowering the risk of complications or errors that could result in death of the patient.

E. With the world still reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic, significant amounts of time and money are being devoted
to the prevention of future outbreaks. Most of us would agree that the worldwide response to Covid was far
from adequate, but what if we could accurately predict a pandemic before it began? With the help of artificial
intelligence, we may be able to contain an outbreak before it spreads, or even identify danger zones in which new
diseases are likely to emerge. AI’s most valuable asset is its ability to crunch swathes of data. With the appropriate
human input, computer programs could spot patterns as they begin to form by analysing information from around
the world. If a disease does begin to spread, AI could aid us in the creation of vaccines or cures, potentially saving
millions of lives.

Sources: The Guardian, Nature, New York Times, EIT Health

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6 Reading comprehension

Part A: Read the article again. Match ideas mentioned in the text with the correct paragraphs. One
of the ideas cannot be matched to any of the paragraphs and should be marked ‘Not given’.

Not given Paragraph A Paragraph B Paragraph C Paragraph D Paragraph E

1. helping professionals at work instead of replacing them →

2. the ability of AI to spot patterns after processing large amounts of information →

3. using AI to help plan complicated procedures →

4. creating tiny machines to enter the body of a patient during operations →

5. using AI to discover new ways to help people while keep costs down →

6. identifying problems earlier than currently possible with the help of AI →

Part B: For each question, choose the answer you believe best suits the speaker.

1. Paragraph A

a. AI would allow us to make huge profits from discovering new drugs, which could be sold to
hospitals at a high price.
b. AI could help to speed up the drug development and discovery process, making medicines
more widely available.
c. Using AI, we could create medicines that allow us to live much longer than currently possible,
perhaps even enabling us to cheat death.

2. Paragraph B

a. AI could improve disease diagnosis by reducing error and allowing treatment to begin earlier.

b. We could use AI to replace doctors at the diagnosis stage, as machines are less likely to make
mistakes.
c. With the help of computer algorithms, we can identify patterns on a large scale and give
medicines to people who may need them before they start to show symptoms.

3. Paragraph C

a. Using AI, employers would be able to access workers’ medical history, allowing them to make
informed decisions on who to hire.
b. AI will be used to design virtual doctors that are much more efficient than human clinicians.

c. AI could help to personalise healthcare for patients, improving monitoring in hospitals and
even offering a virtual doctor to work alongside human specialists.

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4. Paragraph D

a. Surgery could become safer thanks to AI, as it could be used to aid in pre-operative planning
and also assist surgeons during operations.
b. AI could allow us to avoid surgery altogether by improving our general health and discovering
new medicines.
c. Robots will make better surgeons than people with the help of AI, and future hospitals may
well be entirely run by machines.

5. Paragraph E

a. AI may enable us to avoid future pandemics altogether or at least contain an outbreak thanks
to its ability to analyse huge quantities of data.
b. AI could help us to eliminate bacteria and viruses that may cause pandemics in the future by
identifying genetic weaknesses within the organisms.
c. With the help of AI, we can plan our response to pandemics, as the technology could enable
us to simulate how we would react to a specific virus.

7 Reading: expressions and phrasal verbs

Part A: Using the text above for reference, complete the definitions of the expressions and phrasal
verbs below by filling in the gaps with the correct words from the list.

different exists generally information intended shocked

1. a cocktail of drugs/medicines: a combination of drugs or medications that are

prescribed by a doctor to treat one or more illnesses

2. arrive in the hands of someone who needs something: reach the recipient of a
particular item, product, service, etc.

3. crunch swathes of data: analyse large amounts of , usually by using one or more
computer programs

4. reel from something: feel very or upset about something

5. a thing of the past: something that no longer

6. develop a (good/bad) reputation: be regarded by people in a particular way

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Part B: Complete the sentences below with one expression from the above exercise. You may need
to change the form of the expression.

1. At some point, mobile phones may become . I wonder what we’ll

use instead?

2. Jack is still losing his job, be nice to him!

3. The doctor gave me a to take. I feel nervous about taking them

all at once.

4. Sam has because of his rude comments in the office.

5. I hope that the vaccines will , instead of sitting in storage unused.

6. Our computer is so powerful it can while we watch Netflix on a

different monitor.

8 Talking Point
In pairs or small groups, discuss the following questions.

1. Do you think an AI thought decoder, such as the example in the news report, is a good idea?
Why/why not?
2. Have you tried using any AI programs, such as chatbots like ChatGPT?
3. Do you think that governments should spend more money on medical research?
4. What ethical concerns could mind-reading technology raise?
5. Some experts have recently warned about the dangers of AI. Do you think AI is dangerous?
6. What dangers could AI present? Think of some examples.
7. Now that AI is here, can it be stopped, or is it too late already?

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9 Extended activity/writing homework

Write an opinion essay on ONE of the topics below. Your essay should agree with or disagree with
the statement, and should be between 280 – 360 words.

1. Any technology that is capable of reading our thoughts should be immediately banned.
The dangers are too great.
2. Instead of worrying about the risks of AI, we should focus on the potential benefits,
particularly within the medical field.

Alternative extended activity:

In groups, think of FIVE potential uses for AI in medicine. Write down your ideas, and present them
to the class together.

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