Uber patent uses artificial intelligence to tell if you're drunk

Uber has submitted a patent for a feature that uses artificial intelligence to detect if its customers are drunk, simply by the way they use their smartphone. The'Predicting User State Using Machine Learning' patent aims to identify people in an "abnormal state" from factors including number of typos made, walking speed, and who precisely a customer clicks on buttons and links on their phones. "The user behaviour may be compared against the user's prior behaviour to determine differences in the user behaviour for this request and normal behaviour of prior requests," the patent states. "The system can alter the parameters of a service based on the prediction about the state of the user requesting the service." This means that Uber drivers could theoretically refuse to accept passengers deemed to be in an inebriated state.