DR. BRYCE-ALLEN BAGLEY
The Triple Threat
Critical Cognitive Infrastructure
MD Candidate, Physician-Scientist Training Program, Stanford University
Computer scientist, systems engineer, and physician
Author of "A Mathematical Framework for the Problem of Security for Cognition in Neurotechnology" (arXiv, 2024)
Researcher, Mathematical Medicine Group and Petritsch Laboratory, Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford University
Research spans human-AI interaction, brain-computer interface security, and the mathematical foundations of AI safety
Neurosecurity
Cognitive security has, until now, lacked something cryptography has had for decades: a rigorous mathematical language. Dr. Bryce-Allen Bagley, a Stanford MD candidate working at the intersection of computer science, neuroscience, and medicine, is building that language. His research introduces "cogits," a cognitive analog to the bit in information theory, as a foundational unit for formally describing the algorithmic problems attackers exploit and defenders must solve when it comes to protecting human cognition. In this talk, Bagley walks through his framework for treating cognitive attack not as a rhetorical or behavioral phenomenon, but as a formal, structured problem with defined vulnerabilities and defenses, and what that means for anyone working in AI safety, brain-computer interfaces, or human-machine teaming.
This session sits at the technical frontier of the field, less familiar terrain even for well versed attendees, and offers a rare look at what cognitive security becomes when treated as a rigorous engineering and mathematical discipline, not just a policy conversation.
Dr. Bryce-Allen Bagley is a computer scientist, systems engineer, and physician (an MD candidate in Stanford University's Physician-Scientist Training Program), a combination he treats not as a set of separate credentials but as the necessary toolkit for a single problem: protecting human brains and minds from technical attack.