Apple Acquires Facial Expression Analysis Startup Emotient

[MacRumors]

Apple has purchased artificial intelligence startup Emotient, reports The Wall Street Journal. According to its website, Emotient uses artificial intelligence to read emotion through the analysis of facial expressions.

Emotient's technology was previously used by advertisers to determine emotional reactions to advertisements. It let advertisers know whether an ad was getting noticed, how people responded, and whether a reaction was positive or negative. The technology used cameras to capture video that was then analyzed to "learn about the customer's state of mind."

Emotient is the leader in emotion detection and sentiment analysis, part of a neuromarketing wave that is driving a quantum leap in customer understanding. Our services quantify emotional response, leading to insights and actions that improves your products and how you market them.

An Apple spokesperson confirmed the acquisition to The Wall Street Journal with its standard acquisition statement: "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."

It isn't known what Apple will do with Emotient's technology, but the company has made two other semi-related acquisitions in recent months. In October, Apple purchased Perceptio, a startup focused on deep learning and image-recognition systems, and in September, Apple acquired real-time motion capture firm Faceshift, a company that worked on technology to capture facial expressions using 3D sensors.

Article Link: Apple Acquires Facial Expression Analysis Startup Emotient

 

[szw-mapple fan]

Apple could use this to judge how satisfied we actually are with our iPhones.

 

[ButteryScrollin]

Obviously for a new version of Photo Booth.

 

[yaxomoxay]

Facial expressions would be perfect for Apple Car

 

[Mr. Donahue]

Stuff like this worries me. I'm going to put a black piece of tape over my front facing camera.

 

[BornAgainMac]

My iphone can sense my disappointment with Apple on things like the long refreshes of the Mac Pro and Mac Mini when she asks what's wrong.

 

[cariacou]

I hope these pictures arent a practice guide to interact with my phone..

 

[Zirel]

What for? People now talk through Kimoji (Kim Kardashian's Emoji App).

Some people reading this:

 

[bytethese]

Maybe Apple will go all "Sneakers" and implement "My face is my passport, verify me" and allow you to unlock your device with facial or finger print identification.

 

[sza]

Microsoft already invented it...

http://blogs.microsoft.com/next/201...crosoft-tool-recognizes-emotions-in-pictures/

 

[2457282]

your phone will detect your mood as you text and send mood changing feedback through the watch. what did you think they were doing with watch v2?

 

[cableguy84]

Cook better start practicing his sad face, he will need it when he is fired soon

 

[joueboy]

They will secretly install this on every Apple products. So when we all watch a product announcements. They want to know if we are excited, happy and ready to buy. If we're not they don't care anyway, they'll just make more color choices and put more money on advertising.

 

[macintologist]

Maybe this is to prevent Google from purchasing it.

 

[BeefCake 15]

This is to recommend emoticons and words for you based on expression. for example, If you're angry it will recommend the middle finger emoticon for the person you're speaking with.

 

[dannyyankou]

Microsoft already invented it...

http://blogs.microsoft.com/next/201...crosoft-tool-recognizes-emotions-in-pictures/

As long as it's not patented, other companies can use similar technologies.

 

[rrm74001]

Cook better start practicing his sad face, he will need it when he is fired soon

Under the guidance of Tim Cook, Apple had another record year, generating $233.7 billion in sales, an increase of 28 percent over 2014 and a new high for the company.

Reference: https://www.macrumors.com/2016/01/06/apple-ceo-tim-cook-2015-salary

Tim isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

 

[Thunderbird]

How does this interpret a resting bitch face?

 

[BornAgainMac]

The women in the photo is having PMS and those emotions are happening within a span of about 30 minutes.

 

[InfoTime]

Apple acquired real-time motion capture firm Faceshift, a company

whose name was inspired by it's founders hungover state one Sunday morning in September 2013.

 

[mi7chy]

More creepy spying.

 

[NMBob]

They will secretly install this on every Apple products. So when we all watch a product announcements. They want to know if we are excited, happy and ready to buy. If we're not they don't care anyway, they'll just make more color choices and put more money on advertising.

Well they better turn off the 'shaking their head in disbelief' detection subroutine or they will be swamped with data.

 

[JohnApples]

They're going to use this at the iPhone 7 reveal to detect the crowd's reaction to the 16GB entry-level model.

 

[Mac 128]

This all but guarantees a FaceTime camera on the Watch, which will detect whether a user is looking at the watch, when the watch detects a movement which would otherwise turn on the backlight. It will also maintain the backlight as long as the user is looking at the watch, and likewise turn it off faster, as soon as the user is not looking at the watch. This tech will be effective on the iPad and iPhone as well, though to a lesser extent necessary.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

This reminds me of FaceRobot.