Rapid advances in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and its combination with related technologies, such as neurotechnology, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), big data, or algorithms and “deep learning” etc., threaten to bring an end to the freedom of thought and of decision-making. This danger is particularly posed by subliminal AI systems – which the recent proposal for a European Union (EU) Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) defines as those that “deploy subliminal techniques beyond a person’s consciousness”. Already today it is possible to use brain spyware. i.e. software intentionally designed to detect private information (e.g. passwords or dates of birth). In addition, such subliminal techniques open up far-reaching possibilities for the manipulation of thoughts and human behavior, in order to influence consumer behavior to national elections as well as public opinion through what has been called “agenda-setting”.

Against this backdrop various states as well as organizations, including notably the EU and UNESCO, aim to address the ethical concerns related to AI by way of regulatory proposals. These regulatory proposals and plans, however, meet with a number of paradoxes, oxymora and generally open questions as reflected in their qualification as a “black box” and “digital magic”. All of them share complex cross-cutting characteristics, which challenge a binary mode of thinking as expressed in various dichotomies. Moreover, the regulation of AI and disruptive technologies poses not only serious legal problems, but also calls the consideration of interdisciplinary questions, such as the threshold between sub- and supraliminal perception or the role of the senses. Moreover, new and more efficient possibilities for a manipulation by AI systems can be expected to materialize in the near future. Therefore, in order to safeguard the rule of law and to future proof laws, it is needed to inquire about novel cognitive and regulatory frameworks as they will be exemplified by “legal synaesthesia”, which stands for a quest for greater coherence based on a greater union of the senses.