New startup shows how emotion-detecting AI is intrinsically problematic

In 2019, a team of researchers published a meta-review of studies claiming a person's emotion can be inferred from their facial movements. They concluded that there's no evidence emotional state can be predicted from expression – regardless of whether a human or technology is making the determination. "[Facial expressions] in question are not'fingerprints' or diagnostic displays that reliably and specifically signal particular emotional states regardless of context, person, and culture," the coauthors wrote. "It is not possible to confidently infer happiness from a smile, anger from a scowl, or sadness from a frown." Alan Cowen might disagree with this assertion.