Facebook is developing a mind-reading system to let people communicate through their thoughts alone, its founder Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed.

Speaking at the firm’s F8 conference, Zuckerberg said engineers in a secretive unit were working to build interfaces between brains and computers.

“[We’re working on] direct brain interfaces that one day will let you communicate using only your mind,” the chief executive explained.

The revelation confirms mounting speculation about the social networks’ plans for telepathic technology.

In January, Facebook started recruiting “neural imaging” and “brain interface” engineers at its mysterious Building 8. And Zuckerberg has previously lauded telepathy as “the ultimate communication technology”.

On stage in California yesterday, the chief executive admitted that the prospect of mind-reading systems was “pretty far out”, instead devoting the bulk of his keynote to augmented reality (AR).

Zuckerberg described the technology, which is best known for its application in Pokemon Go, as Facebook’s second act.

“We all know where we want this to get eventually,” Zuckerberg said. “We want glasses, or eventually contact lenses, that look and feel normal but that let us overlay all kinds of information and digital objects on top of the real world.”

In the meantime, developers will have to settle for a new Camera Effect Platform, which lets users build AR tools for Facebook’s in-app camera.

Zuckerberg promised F8 speakers would reveal more details about Building 8’s work on telepathic systems today (19 April). 

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