“Emotion AI” often brings to mind humanoid robots in customer service. For example, a lifelike ‘receptionist’ greets guests at a Tokyo hotel. Some companies have added emotion recognition to personal assistant robots. This lets them interact more like humans. Yet, humanoid robotics is one of many uses for emotion AI, says Annette Zimmermann, a research VP at Gartner. Emotion AI is more versatile than expected. It helps users log in to platforms like Dragon Slots login with personalized experiences. It also enhances other unexpected areas.
Tech giants and smaller startups have invested in emotional AI for over a decade. These companies use either computer vision or voice analysis to recognize human emotions. Many of these companies began to focus on market research. They analyzed and captured human emotions in response to a product or TV ad. VPAs are slowly being used in cars, call centers, and smart devices. There is also some use in robotics.
Gartner predicts that, by 2022, 10% of personal devices will have emotion AI. This is up from less than 1% in 2018. The AI will be on-device or via the cloud.
Zimmermann says, “We will find many new uses for emotion AI over the coming year.” “Yet, smaller providers must focus on a few apps and industries. They can’t try to be everything to everyone.”
New Uses Are Evolving Quickly
In the last two years, emotion AI vendors have moved into new areas. They help organizations enhance customer experience and save costs. These uses include:
- Video gaming. The game console uses computer vision to detect players’ emotions. It does this by analyzing their facial expressions during the game. Then, it adapts to their emotions.
- Medical diagnosis. Software that uses voice analysis can help doctors diagnose diseases such as depression and dementia.
- Education. Developers have created learning software prototypes to adapt to kids’ emotions. If a task frustrates the child, the program adjusts its difficulty. Another learning system helps autistic children recognize other people’s emotions.
- Employee safety. Based on Gartner client inquiries, the demand for employee safety solutions is rising. Emotion AI can check stress and anxiety levels in high-pressure jobs like first responders.
- Patient care. A ‘nurse bot’ reminds older patients of long-term programs to take their medication. It also chats with them daily to check on their well-being.
- Car safety. Automotive vendors can use computer vision technology to monitor drivers’ emotional states. An extreme emotional state or drowsiness could trigger an alert for the driver.
- Autonomous car. In the future, autonomous cars will have many sensors, including cameras and microphones. They will check the environment and users’ thoughts on the driving experience.
- Fraud detection. Insurance companies use voice analysis to see if claimants are lying. Independent surveys show up to 30% of users lied to their car insurer to gain coverage.
- Recruiting. Software is used during job interviews to understand the credibility of a candidate.
- Call center intelligent routing. From the start, we can detect an angry customer. We’ll route them to a skilled agent who can adjust the conversation.
- Connected home. A VPA-enabled speaker can recognize the user’s mood and respond.
- Public service. Partnerships between emotion AI technology vendors and surveillance camera providers have emerged. Cameras in public places in the UAE can detect people’s facial expressions. They can, so, gauge the public’s mood. The country’s Ministry of Happiness initiated this project.
- Retail. Retailers are looking into using emotion AI in stores. It uses computer vision to capture visitors’ demographics and moods.
Yet, barriers to adoption remain. A recent Gartner survey found users distrust emotional AI. They are less comfortable with camera-based emotion AI than with voice analysis.
“Providers need to convince us that our emotional data is safe. It should only be used anonymously to train other systems. They must have transparent data management policies,” warns Zimmerman.
Final Thoughts
Emotion AI is changing how we interact with technology. It impacts gaming, healthcare, education, and safety. Its potential is enormous, but trust is a key issue. Companies need to ensure that they handle emotional data safely and transparently. As this technology grows, it will improve lives. It will reshape how we connect with devices if used responsibly.
