Computer ESP tipped as future tool of advertisers

Stan Beer
Monday, 26 June 2006 17:41

Your IT - Home IT

It's mid afternoon as you stroll through the shopping mall and you start to feel a bit peckish wondering where the nearest snack bar happens to be. You happen to glance at a plasma TV screen displaying ads to the shopping crowd and to your surprise the screen instantly flashes up a picture of a mouth watering snack with directions of where a nearby snack bar can be found. "Did the ad server just read my mind?" you think to yourself incredulously.

In fact, scientists at Cambridge University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are working on just such a computer based AI system. The research involves training computers equipped with visual input cameras to recognise a range of facial expressions on human subjects and match them up to their mental states.

Some may say that the concept is a bit far fetched but in reality it is no more out the realms of possibility than natural language computer speech recognition systems which are now common place. While the mood recognition technology is still in its infancy, a major driver of development is the potential for commercial applications.

Advocates for the technology are painting scenarios where your mobile phone or your computer may one day being able to guage your emotional state by recognising the expression on your face and then act as a conduit to targeted advertisers. Needless to say, the concept has its share of detractors who have raised concerns about privacy and the possible encroachment of the rights of individuals.