Company Is Implanting Chips in Employees' Hands

In a move that seems straight out of a sci-fi novel, a Wisconsin tech company is offering to implant tiny smart chips into the hands of its employees. The rice-sized microchips will take care of menial tasks with the wave of a hand at the micro market company Three Square Market (32M) offices, like getting past security, logging into computers, and purchasing food from the cafeteria, reports USA Today. At least 50 employees of 32M plan to line up at a “chip party” in August to have the devices implanted between their thumbs and forefingers, a process that is said to take seconds to complete. Getting the chips is not required by employees, but 32M CEO Todd Westby believes this technology will be everywhere in the future.

"It's the next thing that's inevitably going to happen,” he told ABC 5, “and we want to be a part of it.” He assures that there is no GPS tracking in the secure RFID chips, which run about $300 each (the company’s picking up the tab for any employee that opts in). While 32M is the first US company with chipped employees, microchip implants are becoming more common in Europe, with companies like Sweden-based BioHax International already dipping into the market. “Eventually, this technology will become standardized, allowing you to use this as your passport, public transit, all purchasing opportunities,” Westby says. (Using dime-sized microchips, NASA's offered people the chance to be part of the journey to Mars).