One Reason To Be Afraid Of Emotional AI
And Four Reasons Why You Shouldn't Be!
When we tell people what we are working on at Pandora Cybernetics, the first reaction is typically, “That’s scary!” Well, I’m here to tell you why it’s not … mostly. Advancements in emotional AI are happening and they will disrupt every industry. So, I want to take a few minutes to ease your mind and get you thinking about the possibilities of emotional AI.
POSSIBILITY #1 – WE UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER MORE COMPLETELY
When you think of Emotional AI, you probably think of movies like iRobot, Bicentennial Man, or 2001: A Space Odyssey. I know I do. And, while the founder of Pandora Cybernetics was inspired by the stories of Isaac Asimov (see his first blog post), the ideas in these stories are quite different from where emotional AI is headed. Asimov’s stories include robots that feel emotions. Emotional AI is not about building machines that feel, but machines that sense emotion. Sensing, capturing, and analyzing emotions will help people better understand each other. The more we understand each other emotionally, the more connected we become.
POSSIBILITY #2 – BREAK DOWN OUR BIASES
Our personal connections are often limited by unconscious biases, regardless of how open-minded we believe we are. First impressions of others are tainted by pre-conceptions based on gender, age, race, or other aspects of a person that cause us to immediately limit their potential. Emotional AI has the ability to remove those biases that come from physical attributes. Imagine meeting someone for the first time, whether it’s for a job interview or a blind date. If you could ignore your unconscious biases you would have a greater capacity to know that person for their kindness, talent, knowledge, or sense of humor. These are the traits of meaningful connection and true potential.
POSSIBILITY #3 – PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL WELLBEING
Everyone strives to reach their fullest potential, but that’s often diminished by our lack of focus on personal wellbeing. Emotional AI can help by bringing awareness to early warning signs that our wellbeing is at risk. Whether it’s through early detection of diseases and disorders or through monitoring of your emotional state while working. Emotional AI has the ability to recognize and notify you that something is wrong. You then have a better chance of early detection for things like Alzheimer’s or ALS. Or, it could be as simple as knowing when to take a screen break for your own mental and emotional health.
POSSIBILITY #4 – SECURITY WITHOUT RACIAL PROFILING
Security plays a huge role in emotional wellbeing. Unfortunately, we live in a world where heightened security leads to racial profiling which leads to distrust and doubt toward the establishments intended to keep us secure. Everyone is on edge and nobody knows how to fix it. That’s where Emotional AI can help. Consider the possibility of a technology that can detect a subtle shift in eye movement, an increase in forehead sweat, a slight rise in agitation. All of this being completely separate from skin color, age, or gender. Again, removing unconscious biases and therefore increasing our trust in organization like TSA or our Police Officers.
So, what IS a reason to be afraid of emotional IA?
CHANGE – SPECIFICALLY, NOT KEEPING UP WITH IT
The amount of change we will see as artificial intelligence advances is disruptive (for more thoughts on that, see my previous blog post). Many people are still in the “No, not me” stage adjusting to this change. They don’t realize that early advances in emotional AI technology are already being used in airport security, in the making of movies, in retail environments and in many other industries. If you are trying to keep up with the industries of tomorrow and you’re not considering how emotional AI is impacting your business, you should be scared.
Ok. Let’s do this. Because, it IS possible.
Jennifer Gilbert is Co-Founder of Pandora Cybernetics, a small company that is dedicated to bringing the Emotionally Intelligent computer systems to the Retail and Advertising markets. Their revolutionary new TeleMetriX Impact Optimization Engine is designed to use Emotional feedback to influence your customer’s purchasing decisions by personalizing the buying Experience. Check them out at www.pandoracybernetics.com
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