What does new autism, AI and quantum computing research have in common? We need to stop following the well known 'input - process - output' model. Let's escape this model and embrace the predictive brain theory to understand autism and how people on the spectrum interact with technology and at the workplace.

Recent brain research shows that the brain is not a passive receiver of stimuli, but an active predictor of what will happen next. The brain is constantly building a big model of the world based on past experiences and using this model to predict what will happen next. When we have a big model of the world we know what to expect. If something unexpected happens, the brain receives this as an error and needs to update its model to accommodate the new information. This is not autism or tech specific, this is how the brain works for everyone according to the latest brain research.

A recent hypothesis suggests that people on the autism spectrum often have a harder time building the big model of the world and the stimuli-response system of people on the spectrum is often more sensitive, adding context blindness and the higher energy cost of executive functioning to the mix, it is harder for people on the spectrum to predict what will happen next and to deal with unexpected situations. This can lead to anxiety, stress and burnout.

If your tech job is constantly causing errors in the predictive model of the world, it will be hard to do your job and to be happy at work. In this talk I will explain how the predictive brain theory can help us understand autism and how we can build better technology and workplaces for people on the spectrum.