Researchers Have Created an AI That Could Read and React to Emotions

One of today's more popular artificially intelligent (AI) androids comes from the TV series "MARVEL's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Those of you who followed the latest season's story -- no spoilers here! One of the most interesting things about this fictional AI character is that it can read people's emotions. Thanks to researchers from the University of Cambridge, this AI ability might soon make the jump from sci-fi to reality. The first step in creating such a system is training an algorithm on simpler facial expressions and just one specific emotion or feeling. To that end, the Cambridge team focused on using a machine learning algorithm to figure out if a sheep is in pain, and this week, they presented their research at the IEEE International Conference on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition in Washington, D.C.