When Machines Know How You're Feeling: The Rise Of Affective Computing

The clinical, emotionless computer or robot is a staple of science fiction, but science fact is starting to change: computers are getting much better at understanding emotions. As we turn to computers, smart devices and robots to do more and more functions that have always been the exclusive domain of humans, this emotion-detecting technology will become increasingly important. Automated customer service "bots" will be better able to know if a customer is getting the help they need. Robot caregivers involved with telemedicine may be able to detect pain or depression even if the patient doesn't explicitly talk about it. One insurance company I am working with is even experimenting with call voice analytics that can detect that someone is telling lies to their claims handers.