New tech can read your emotions

SCIENTISTS are inviting people to pull faces at their webcam and smartphone to see in action a controversial technology called artificial intelligence emotion recognition.

Researchers from Cambridge University and UCL have built a website called Emojify to help people to understand how computers can be used to scan facial expressions to detect emotion.

Dr Alexa Hagerty, project lead and researcher at Cambridge’s Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, said the technology, which is already used in parts of the world, is “powerful” but “flawed”.

Visitors to the website can play a game, pulling faces at their device’s camera to try to get the emotion recognition system to recognise six emotions - happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, disgust and anger.

They can also answer a series of optional questions to assist research, including whether they have experienced the technology before and if they think it is useful or concerning.

AI emotion recognition technology is in use across a variety of sectors in China including for police interrogation and to monitor behaviour in schools.

Other potential uses include in border control, assessing candidates during job interviews and for businesses to collect customer insights.

The researchers say they hope to start conversations about the technology and its social impacts.

To try the AI emotion recognition technology, visit emojify.info.