AI will know you better than your family does - Gartner

Why your phone will know more about your emotional state than the people closest to you do

Personal devices will know more about an individual's emotional state than his or her own family does, according to projections for 2022 by Gartner.

The analyst claimed that artificial intelligence (AI) is "generating multiple disruptive forces" that are reshaping the way people interact with personal technologies, with emotion being at the fore of the next AI development.

"Emotion AI systems and affective computing are allowing everyday objects to detect, analyse, process and respond to people's emotional states and moods to provide better context and a more personalised experience," said Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner.

"To remain relevant, technology vendors must integrate AI into every aspect of their devices, or face marginalisation."

The current wave of emotion AI systems is being driven by the proliferation of virtual personal assistants (VPAs) and other AI-based technology for conversational systems, found Gartner.

It continued that as a second wave emerges, AI technology will add value to more and more customer experience scenarios, including educational software, video games, diagnostic software, athletic and health performance, and the autonomous car.

"Prototypes and commercial products already exist and adding emotional context by analysing data points from facial expressions, voice intonation and behavioral patterns will significantly enhance the user experience," said Cozza.

"Beyond smartphones and connected home devices, wearables and connected vehicles will collect, analyse and process users' emotional data via computer vision, audio or sensors capturing behavioral data to adapt or respond to a user's wants and needs."

Gartner also stated that by 2021, 10 per cent of wearables users will have changed lifestyles, and thereby extend their life spans by an average of six months.

By 2020, 60 per cent of personal technology device vendors will use third-party AI cloud services to enhance functionality and services, the analyst claimed.