Banning the Prediction of Emotion?

We examined and experimented with aspects of the idea for 20 years.   A number for these efforts are touched on in this blog, see the tags below.  But now its seen as dangerous.  Another thing I see as inevitable,   for now regulation will only occur in the West.

Researchers Criticize AI Software That Predicts Emotions    By Reuters

The perceptions of facial expressions by artificial intelligence is unreliable, according to researchers at the AI Now Institute.

Researchers alarmed by the harmful social effects of artificial intelligence have called for a ban on automated analysis of facial expression in hiring and other major decisions.

The AI Now Institute at New York University is urging a ban on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) that automatically analyzes facial expressions to influence hiring and other decisions.

The Institute cited an academic review of studies on how people interpret moods from facial expressions, which concluded that such perceptions are unreliable, given that emotional communication widely varies across cultures, scenarios, and individuals in a single situation.

The Institute said action against such software-driven “affect recognition” was its top priority, because science does not justify the technology's use.

Institute founders Kate Crawford and Meredith Whittaker warn of the spread of damaging applications of AI despite broad consensus on underlying ethical principles, due to a lack of consequences for violating those principles.   ... ' 

AI Now Institute to Research Impact of AI on Society

The Field of AI Research Is About to Get Way Bigger Than Code 
in NextGov.com   by Dave Gershgorn
November 16, 2017

Microsoft Research's Kate Crawford and Open Research at Google founder Meredith Whittaker on Thursday announced the launch of the AI Now Institute, a cross-disciplinary initiative that will research the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on society. Fields AI Now plans to bring together include data science, law, economics, and sociology. "The amount of money and industrial energy that has been put into accelerating AI code has meant that there hasn't been as much energy put into thinking about social, economic, ethical frameworks for these systems," Crawford says. "We think there's a very urgent need for this to happen faster." AI Now will focus on four core themes, including AI's ramifications for bias and inclusion, labor and automation, rights and liberties, and safety and critical infrastructure. Crawford and Whittaker want their efforts to yield a shared vernacular between AI creators and those who study its effects so societal solutions can be invented.   .... "