Emotion AI.. yes, it’s a thing, and you rightly predicted what it does – AI that measures, understands and simulates human emotions. Also known as affective computing, emotion AI dates back to atleast 1995 when MIT Media Lab professor Rosalind Picard published a paper on it.

Since then, emotion AI is witnessing an uptick in adoption, and there are several industries that could benefit from the use of emotion AI to understand customer needs better and develop a more nuanced suite of solutions. The advancements in facial recognition and machine learning have led to the growth of various subsets of AI like sentiment analysis and affective computing; as they help companies decode their customer’s needs more accurately. Recently, conversational AI company Uniphore acquired Spain-based Emotion Research Lab to augment its CSA solutions to deliver a voice-video experience to enterprise clients across sectors like banking, finance, ecommerce and retail among others. Annette Zimmerman of Gartner notes that by next year, 10% of personal devices will have emotion AI capabilities, and humanoid robotics.

Here are Gartner’s top picks for areas where emotion AI can have high impact:

• Video Gaming: The gaming software can use facial recognition and emotion AI to understand a player’s expressions and adapt
• Mental Health & Patient Care: By using voice and visual tools, a lot can be deciphered on a person’s mental health status.
• Advertising/Market Research: Collecting data from the public and understanding market insights to develop better brands is crucial to the advertising industry. AI capabilities in voice and facial analysis can greatly help.
• Education: Tracking a child’s facial expressions and movements can be a great way to understand if he’s following what’s being taught in class. This can be especially helpful in current times when online education is becoming more widespread. In addition, AI can be a great tool to detect learning disabilities
• Telematics: There are a slew of AI applications today that make telematics an exciting prospect. Emotion AI could be hugely helpful in detecting driver drowsiness, fatigue and other key emotions to enhance safety.
• Fraud detection: Insurance companies are using emotion AI to see if their clients are lying or indulging in fraudulent practices when it comes to claiming insurance.
• Public Infrastructure: UAE’s Ministry of Happiness deployed cameras in public spaces to capture their expressions and gauge their emotions accordingly.
• Retail: This industry has a lot to benefit from the use of emotion AI, to gauge demographics, visitor moods, responses to various products instore and even on app.