Artificial intelligence (AI) is going to revolutionize how we interact with everything and everyone around us, and innovators like Rana el Kaliouby, CEO of Affectiva, want to make sure AI development is done right. As AI technology makes rapid advancements in the IQ of machines, el Kaliouby and Affectiva are working to make sure AI’s EQ (emotional quotient) keeps up. 

The ability of machines to read your thoughts is still a long way off, but el Kaliouby and her team are finding ways to read the outward manifestations of emotions and moods, like facial expressions, body cues, and linguistic patterns. If AI can have at least a clue about what we’re thinking, it can complement AI’s already vast knowledge base. Check out how Affectiva software can already read dozens of facial expressions in real-time:  

We’re already getting glimpses into what a world dominated by AI will look like, says Rana el Kaliouby. Although successful facial recognition software is mostly limited to unlocking your smartphone, companies are deep into researching applications that will touch every part of our lives. 

AI could help you land a job by analyzing your speech patterns, it could stop you from falling asleep at the wheel, and it could help autistic children better read social cues.

This is very exciting, says el Kaliouby, but we need to take a step back and contemplate the ethical implications of AI technologies. How do people consent to their data being used once they step out of their houses? Should consumers get compensated if companies monetize the data collected through AI technologies? It’s high time we start having those conversations, says el Kaliouby.

There’s a problem, claims Rana el Kaliouby, when we build facial recognition software supported by data collected mostly from the faces of white men. AI engineers don’t set out to create software that’s biased, but el Kaliouby explains how it happens anyway:

“We solve for what we know,” says el Kaliouby. If we’re not forward thinking about who’s making AI software and how it’s being made, bias will continue to creep into AI. 

Voice is a powerful messenger. Beyond relaying basic facts, voices carry a lot of information about what someone is really thinking. Are we going to lose our ability to read tones of voice if texting keeps replacing voice conversations? Social psychologist Elizabeth Dunn, behavioral scientist Nicholas Epley, and The Atlantic editor Adrienne LaFrance discuss what individuals and society could lose as machines work their way deeper into our everyday lives:

New technologies are emerging faster than governments can figure out how to regulate them, so it’s often up to individual companies to determine best practices to protect privacy, compensate users, and integrate their products into society. And the stakes are high — companies are collecting data at alarming rates, and we’re already seeing AI in places that seemed impossible just a couple years ago. Attorney Neil Liebowitz and CEO of Crisis Text Line Nancy Lublin discuss how they think about society’s responsibility to reign in tech’s influence on our lives: