Facial recognition and voice commands have become commonplace and changed the way we interact with machines. It seems the next step is to have devices interpret emotions.
According to the Business Insider, Apple has applied for a patent registration that would make it possible to analyse facial expressions, heartbeats and vocal patterns. Such interpretations of emotions would be coupled to data such as location and content already clicked on by users. Advertising will benefit from the creation of such devices by helping determine the best ad to display according to a consumer’s mood.
The patent does not mean the technology is ready to turn into a product in the short term. The idea of emotion readers as a means to transform into advertising revenue is not new. Last year more than 1,000 people in four countries watched 115 television ads while cameras captured their facial expression, which were analyzed by Affectiva, an US based start-up. The system identified emotion by movements such as a smile, raised eyebrows, frowns and laughter.
According to Technology Review, the Affectiva process can predict with 75 per cent accuracy whether sales of products will rise, fall or stay the same after the campaigns are aired. The accuracy of market research in this area is usually 70 per cent. The Affectiva was created by researchers at the Media Lab of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Google also has ambitions to read consumer’s feelings. Last year, the futurist Ray Kurzweil and technology director at Google said that one goal of the company is to have “emotional intelligence” and understand who people really are.
“It means emotional intelligence, being funny, getting the joke, being sexy, being loving, understanding human emotion. That’s actually the most complex thing we do. That is what separates computers and humans today. I believe that gap will close by 2029.” Says Kurzweil.
Well, if Kurzweil’s predictions are correct we will be able to selectively erase pieces of our memory. These are some of what our future will be according with Kurzweil speech at the Demo Conference in Silicon Valley in 2012:
•Our brains will extend to the cloud, which will allow us to learn new things at any age.
•We will be in augmented reality at all times.
•By 2029 machines will be able to match the intelligence of humans, and they’ll be able to make us laugh and cry.
•By the 2030s, tiny “nanobots” able to repair and preserve our organs will keep us healthier and smarter.
Exciting or scaring? Hope we will be alive to experience all his predictions.
