“We can manage what we measure, but we mainly measure money and speed,” Nduka says. “What we can’t really measure is quality. And quality depends on emotions. And emotions can be felt most sensitively through expression.”
The vision of artificial intelligence
Humanity has long been asking whether artificial intelligence really knows how humans feel, and most of the answers come down to: well, probably not. Even without a few advanced cameras and intelligent AI, reading emotions can be arduous.
“Assessing emotions based on facial expressions is quite debatable,” says Andrew McStay, professor and director Emotional artificial intelligence laboratory at the University of Bangor in the UK. McStay says that even if the company used artificial intelligence to “smooth” the data collected by sensors to make it more useful, he’s not convinced it could actually accurately read emotions. “I just think there are fundamental flaws and fundamental problems with it.”
Cultural differences also influence how different people show emotions. One person’s smile may represent friendliness or joy, while for others it may be a nervous expression of fear. This type of signaling can vary greatly from culture to culture. The way emotions register on a face can also change depending on neurodivergence, though Emteq says it wants to lend a hand neurodivergent users deal with these kinds of awkward social interactions.
Strand says Emteq tries to take all of these factors into account, hence the pursuit of more and more data. Emteq is also adamant that its operate cases will be fully vetted and overseen by healthcare providers or practitioners. The idea is that therapists, doctors and dietary consultants will operate this technology to ensure that all data collected directly from your face is not used for nefarious purposes.
“You have to be careful about how you communicate information, which is why we have experts who stay up to date. At least now,” says Strand. “Data is valuable no matter what because it allows the evaluator to give good advice. Then the question becomes what that advice is and what is right for that person on their journey. When it comes to mental health, this is especially important.”
Strand provides therapeutic sessions during which, instead of the patient coming in and encouraging him to share details about stressful situations or moments of anxiety, the therapist can already read his emotional state over the past week and be able to point out problematic areas and ask for details. their.
Myopic
No matter how good Emteq smart glasses are, they will have to compete with giants already on the market selling wearable technologies that offer much wider applications. People may not be interested in wearing bulky glasses if all they can do is scan your face and look at food. It’s not at all far-fetched to imagine these internal sensors being built into something more feature-rich, like Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses.
“It’s always been that way with these types of products,” McStay says. “These things often start with health and then quickly evolve into something much more marketing-oriented.”