AI will understand your emotions better than your family come 2022

It’s 2018 everyone. Congrats, you’ve made it one step further into the future laden with emotion-sensing artificial intelligence, virtual personal assistants and potentially longer lifespans. This is according to research company Gartner’s latest report, aptly titled Predicts 2018: Personal Devices.

While not specifically focussing on the year ahead, the report does highlight what humans can expect to see from the next decade’s wave of technology. And it’s slightly creepy.

By 2022, “personal devices will know more about an individual’s emotional state than his or her own family” suggests Gartner, accounting for the sophistication of the development behind artificial intelligence and its growing understanding of human emotion.

“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,” elaborated research director Roberta Cozza.

“Prototypes and commercial products already exist and adding emotional context by analysing data points from facial expressions, voice intonation and behavioural patterns will significantly enhance the user experience.”

While voice assistants, (hilariously) fridges and even cars will soon make suggestions based on your emotion, another branch of technology could bolster human lifespans too.

‘Personal devices will know more about an individual’s emotional state than his or her own family’

According to Gartner, 10% of wearable users by 2021 could see an increase in lifespan by an average of six months. This stems from AI-powered specialist medical wearables doctoring those with potentially deathly conditions.

“We are seeing growing numbers of users actively changing their behaviour for the better with the adoption of a wearable device,” explained Annette Zimmerman, Gartner’s research VP.

“Not only can this have beneficial influence on the amount of exercise they do but there is evidence that one or two out of 10 smartwatch and fitness band users discover a condition such as sleep apnea or cardiac arrhythmia through wearing the device.”

Wearables specialising in diagnosing, therapy and prevention will also become a notable industry focus within the next decade.

Feature image: Ryan McGuire via Pixabay (CC0)