The Latest News, Views, and Insights from Kairos

This is a 5 Part Series on Empathy and its relation to artificial intelligence, machine learning, and where we are headed in the future with technology. Follow the Kairos team as we explore empathy in the tech field and ways to implement it.

I recently expressed to someone about a time in my life that left me upset, changed, and almost broken. Their response was "I'm sorry, but every one goes through tough times. It sucks, but it's normal". I have thick skin, it's hard to offend me or upset me, but that statement made me roll my eyes and shake my head.

“I will travel across the land searching far and wide [for] each Pokémon to understand the power that's inside” so goes the Pokémon theme song and mantra for Pokémon Go trainers everywhere. Pokémon Go’s augmented reality game has taken the world by storm within the last month and while people are trying to ‘catch them all’, businesses are trying to capitalize on the marketing power this game is offering.

Imagine you go to a high-tech, touch screen vending machine to purchase a beverage. You decide to buy a new juice, you deposit your money, punch in the code and the drink is dispensed. In front of the machine you open it, taste it, and pucker your face and stick out your tongue as the drink is not to your liking. The vending machine captures your facial expression and registers that this beverage is distasteful and the screen prompts asking you why? Was your drink a) too sweet b) not sweet enough c) sour d) other (explain). You chose sour and the machine gives you another drink, for free, something that is a little sweeter. The machine then registers that YOU specifically like sweeter drinks and so the next time you approach it, it recognizes you and it recommends that you try a sweet beverage.

For years researchers have been trying to answer the question, “How many ads does a person see in one day?”. Some have guesstimated between 5,000-10,000 brand images are seen by a single person each day! Others think that number is exaggerated and insist that just counting exposures isn’t accurate and one must only consider those messages which make it into our consciousness. With more things to buy, see and do, and more places to encounter media, one thing is for sure, regardless of the actual number, we can safely say it’s a lot.

A database of faces is a key element that is needed when working with any facial recognition technology. Without it, an algorithm can not ensure accuracy when comparing or recognizing unknown images to older identified images just like without a battery, your computer won’t turn on.