Leading research center AI Now Institute has called for the creation of new laws restricting the use of emotion-detecting technology.
According to AI Now Institute, new laws should established to restrict the use of emotion-detecting tech, which is "built on markedly shaky foundations". Currently, these systems are being sold as tools to help vet job seekers, test criminal suspects for signs of deception, and set insurance prices.
AI Now is calling for a ban in the use of such software in important decisions that affect people's lives and/or determine their access to opportunities. In its annual report, AI Now refers to this technology as affect recognition.
The institute claims that the affect recognition sector is currently experiencing growth and could already be a $20 billion industry.
AI Now co-founder Professor Kate Crawford said: "It claims to read, if you will, our inner-emotional states by interpreting the micro-expressions on our face, the tone of our voice or even the way that we walk."
"It's being used everywhere, from how do you hire the perfect employee through to assessing patient pain, through to tracking which students seem to be paying attention in class."
"At the same time as these technologies are being rolled out, large numbers of studies are showing that there is... no substantial evidence that people have this consistent relationship between the emotion that you are feeling and the way that your face looks," Prof. Crawford added.
AI Now identified several companies that are offering emotion-detecting products, including Oxygen Forensics which sells emotion-detecting software to the police and HireVue, which sells AI-driven video-based tools to recommend which candidates a company should interview.
Emteq founder Charles Nduka pointed out: "One needs to understand the context in which the emotional expression is being made." While Nduka agrees that regulation is need in the use of the technology, he said that lawmakers should not restrict the work being done on using it in the medical field.
