Affective computing provides new frontier in user manipulation

By 2016, a logical direction for data-driven personalisation efforts to go was toward the "Internet of Emotions": equipping devices with facial, vocal, and biometric sensors that use affective computing to analyse and influence the feelings of device owners. Of particular concern is the potential for using subtle cues to manipulate people in a more nuanced way than is presently discussed. The beginnings of this are already visible in the example of an Amazon Echo that displayed the items a partner was browsing in answer to a casual spoken across-the-room query. How to build trust, security, or privacy into cognitive systems where users do not control their own data is a difficult question. One proposal is the idea of an "algorithmic angel" that would act as an individually programmable combined personal assistant, proxy avatar, and blocker for bad data. Numerous companies are beginning to develop prototypes.

https://mashable.com/2016/01/30/internet-of-emotions

Writer: John C. Havens
Publication: Mashable UK