TECH NEWS – Artificial intelligences are smart. They can store and process vast amounts of data in the blink of an eye, translate languages instantly, and even run other machines. But they have no emotional intelligence at all. Yet.

An Egyptian-American computer scientist wants to change that. In a CNN compilation, introduced the woman who could bring the change the world has been waiting for, Rana el Kaliouby, a 43-year-old Egyptian-American computer scientist who founded his company Affectiva as a PhD student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

He then turned his attention to “Emotion AI“, or “artificial intelligence for emotions”, with the ambition of teaching robots to recognise and quantify human emotions. As he puts it, “technology has created an ’empathy crisis'”, but he wants to change that.

What do you think, KITT?

Kaliouby has already identified one area of our lives where he believes emotion-aware AI could be a lifesaver, and that’s the automotive industry. The driver monitoring system uses artificial intelligence-powered cameras in cars that can detect when a driver is tired or distracted, preventing accidents.

According to the European Commission, ninety percent of road accidents are the driver’s fault, which is one of the reasons why new EU legislation has been introduced to require European cars to be equipped with this technology by 2022. Meanwhile, a similar law is already being considered in the US. Tesla and General Motors already have driver monitoring systems in some of their models, and Affectiva talks with BMW, Porsche and Hyundai.

However, Kaliouby says there are also solutions tailored to other vehicles, such as cameras that give you a view of the entire passenger compartment. If, for example, a baby falls asleep in the back seat, the app can turn off the lights or stop the music, or adjust the temperature if necessary. The entrepreneur says that each car can be tailored to individual needs based on its passengers and what makes them feel comfortable.

Legal concerns

The main factor slowing down the uptake of emotion-recognition AI is that the topic is still somewhat controversial, as it would be used to monitor people. The CNN article reveals that racial and gender discrimination is a recurring one, as are concerned about privacy.

For example, the author cites an incident in Brazil earlier this year, where the metro operator ViaQuatro was fined 100,000 Brazilian reais (almost $20 000) for using facial recognition technology and collecting data without passengers’ permission. ViaQuatro installed emotion recognition cameras in the Sao Paulo metro to measure human reactions to different advertisements. The company has denied that facial recognition was used nor believe that data protection regulations were violated.

According to Vidushi Marda, an AI researcher, consultant and lawyer, it will be complicated to eliminate the harmful effects of AI for sentiment recognition because even if it is used with good intentions, it is still a concern that, for example, truck drivers or taxi drivers are being monitored twice by driver monitoring systems. He says the technology “allows surveillance” regardless of its intended use.

There is still no consensus in the industry on the subject, with many researchers questioning whether artificial Intelligence can read emotions at all. A 2019 meta-analysis of more than a thousand studies, for example, found insufficient evidence to support the theory of “universal facial expressions”, while a year later, a study found that the accuracy of AI for emotion recognition is below that of humans.

Kaliouby is aware of all this; she says Affectiva has strict regulations on data collection and has made all information about the use and storage of data completely transparent. However, he rejects those who would use the software for surveillance, surveillance or lie detectors.

With eleven million facial expressions from ninety countries around the world, Kaliouby says Affectiva aims to create a diverse database that finally eliminates age, gender and race distinctions but includes facial expressions and tone of voice and can take into account factors such as culture and context. The entrepreneur hopes that technology will help create a more human and empathetic digital experience in the years to come.

Kaliouby is on a mission to change the relationship between humans and machines, which she believes will improve our relationship with technology and help us better connect in the digital world.

Source: CNN