New research can predict how plots, images, and music affect your emotions while watching a movie. Every time I think AI can't surprise me anymore, new research arrives to prove me wrong. Yesterday, scientists at the MIT Media Lab announced that they've taught a machine how to manipulate our emotions–a technology that they believe can help filmmakers create more engrossing movies and TV. In a blog post published in collaboration with strategic consulting firm McKinsey & Company, the researchers said that they used a deep neural network to watch thousands of small slices of video--movies, TV, and short online features. For each slice, the neural network guessed which were the different elements that made a moment emotionally special, constructing an emotional arc. To test their accuracy, the team got human volunteers to watch the same clips, tagging their reaction and labeling which elements--from the music to the dialogue to the type of imagery shown on screen–had a stronger weight in their emotional response.