The emotion recognition software segment is projected to grow dramatically in coming years, spelling success for companies that have established a beachhead in the market, while causing some who are skeptical about its accuracy and fairness to raise red flags. The global emotion detection and recognition market is projected to grow to $37.1 billion by 2026, up from an estimated $19.5 billion in 2020, according to a recent report from MarketsandMarkets. North America is home to the largest market. Software suppliers covered in the report include: NEC Global (Japan), IBM (US), Intel (US), Microsoft (US), Apple (US), Gesturetek (Canada), Noldus Technology (Netherlands), Google (US), Tobii (Sweden), Cognitec Systems (Germany), Cipia Vision Ltd (Formerly Eyesight Technologies) (Israel), iMotions (Denmark), Numenta (US), Elliptic Labs (Norway), Kairos (US), PointGrab (US), Affectiva (US), nViso (Switzerland), Beyond Verbal (Israel), Sightcorp (Holland), Crowd Emotion (UK), Eyeris (US), Sentiance (Belgium), Sony Depthsense (Belgium), Ayonix (Japan), and Pyreos (UK). Some question whether emotion recognition software is effective, and whether its use is ethical.

It's a bright April day in Boston, and Gabi Zijderveld, a pioneer in the field of emotional artificial intelligence, is trying to explain why teaching robots to feel is as important as teaching them to think. "We live in a world surrounded by all these super-advanced technologies, hyper-connected devices, AI systems with super cognitive abilities -- or, as I like to say, lots of IQ but absolutely no EQ," says Zijderveld, chief marketing officer of Affectiva, the startup that spun out of the MIT Media Lab 10 years ago to build emotionally intelligent machines. "Just like humans that are successful in business and in life -- they have high emotional intelligence and social skills -- we should expect the same with technology, especially for these technologies that are designed to interact with humans." Giving machines a soul has been a dream of scientists, and sci-fi writers, for decades. But until recently, the idea of robots with heart was the stuff of moviemaking.

The ability to register the emotional response of customers or potential customers from their facial expressions or words they speak or write, is a growing business and another instance of how AI is bringing new capability to the table. Emotion AI is the market seen by Affectiva, while emotion recognition is the market described by EMRAYS. Both are using powerful software incorporating AI to measure emotions people register when they view an ad or write a response. Affectiva spun out of MIT's Media Lab in 2009, co-founded by Dr. Rosalind Picard and Dr. Rana el Kaliouby, now the CEO. Dr. Picard, an engineer, had published the book Affective Computing in 1997.

Many people get frustrated with technology when it malfunctions or is counterintuitive. The last thing people might expect is for that same technology to pick up on their emotions and engage with them differently as a result. All of that is now changing. Computers are increasingly able to figure out what we're feeling--and it's big business. A recent report predicts that the global affective computing market will grow from $12.2 billion in 2016 to $53.98 billion by 2021.

Researchers are breaking down the barrier between people and machines by teaching computers to recognize fear. On the 4th floor of the pristine Media Lab Complex at MIT lives a Nightmare Machine. These computers earned that nickname for a reason: they have been learning how to terrify people. A series of algorithms generates disturbing and grotesque images, like movie monsters, dead people, and other things that go bump in the night. "We wanted to playfully explore how artificial intelligence (AI) can become a demon that learns how to scare you," said Pinar Yanardag Delul, one of the creators of the gore-loving computer program.