When Microsoft announced last week it will remove several features from its facial recognition technology that deal with emotion, the head of its responsible artificial intelligence efforts included a warning: The science of emotion is far from settled. "Experts inside and outside the company have highlighted the lack of scientific consensus on the definition of'emotions,' the challenges in how inferences generalize across use cases, regions, and demographics, and the heightened privacy concerns around this type of capability," Natasha Crampton, Microsoft's chief responsible AI officer, wrote in a blog post. Microsoft's move, which came as part of a broader announcement about its "Responsible AI Standard" initiative, immediately became the most high-profile example of a company moving away from emotion recognition AI, a relatively small piece of technology that has been the focus of intense criticism, particularly in the academic community. Emotion recognition technology typically relies on software to look at any number of qualities -- facial expressions, tone of voice or word choice -- in an effort to automatically detect emotional state. Many technology companies have released software that claims to be able to read, recognize or measure emotions for use in business, education and customer service.

The American Bar Association has taken greater notice of emotional AI as a tool for honing courtroom and marketing performance. It is not clear if the storied group has caught up with the controversy that follows the comparatively new field. On the association's May 18 Legal Rebels podcast, ABA Journal legal affairs writer Victor Li speaks with the CEO of software startup EmotionTrac (a subsidiary of mobile ad tech firm Jinglz) about how an app first designed for the advertising industry reportedly has been adopted by dozens of attorneys. Aaron Itzkowitz is at pains to make clear the difference between facial recognition and affect recognition. At the moment, the use of face biometrics by governments is a growing controversy, and Li would like to stay separate from that debate.

The growing use of emotion recognition AI is causing alarm among ethicists. They warn that the tech is prone to racial biases, doesn't account for cultural differences, and is used for mass surveillance. Some argue that AI isn't even capable of accurately detecting emotions. A new study published in Nature Communications has shone further light on these shortcomings. The researchers analyzed photos of actors to examine whether facial movements reliably express emotional states.

The growing use of emotion recognition AI is causing alarm among ethicists. They warn that the tech is prone to racial biases, doesn't account for cultural differences, and is used for mass surveillance. Some argue that AI isn't even capable of accurately detecting emotions. A new study published in Nature Communications has shone further light on these shortcomings. The researchers analyzed photos of actors to examine whether facial movements reliably express emotional states.

Softbank Robotics today announced that its robot Pepper will now use emotion recognition AI from Affectiva to interpret and respond to human activity. Pepper is about four feet tall, gets around on wheels, and has a tablet in the center of its chest. The humanoid robot made its debut in 2015 and was designed to interact with people. Cameras and microphones are used to help Pepper recognize human emotions, like hostility or joy, and respond appropriately with a smile or indications of sadness. This type of intelligence likely comes in handy for the environments where Pepper operates, like banks, hotels, and Pizza Huts in some parts of Asia.