It has been predicted by Gartner, Inc. that by 2022, personal devices will know more about an individual’s emotional state compared to his or her own family, thanks to emotion artificial intelligence (AI) systems.
Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner said: “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.” He also mentioned that in order 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. 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 autonomous cars.
Apart from that, Gartner also included predictions of other personal devices. By 2021, 10% of wearable users will have changed lifestyles and extend their life spans by an average of six months.
As AI emotion systems evolve there is huge potential for specialised devices, such as medical wristbands, which can anticipate life-threatening conditions and facilitate an early response system. At the same time special apps are also being developed for diagnostic and therapy services that will help to recognise conditions such as depression or help children with autism.
By 2020, 60% of personal technology device vendors will use third-party AI cloud services to enhance functionality and services. Cloud offerings from big tech players are starting to proliferate due to their attractive cost model, easy-to-use integration and potential to create complex services.
A major catalyst for device vendors to use cloud AI services is the increased usage of VPAs and natural-language technologies. Meanwhile, the adoption of VPA-based, screenless devices such as Amazon Echo and Google Home are also on the rise, further increasing usage of cloud AI services.
Finally, through 2022, security technology that combines machine learning, biometrics and user behaviour will reduce passwords to account for less than 10% of all digital authentications. This is because password-based simple authentication is becoming less and less effective, especially for personal devices. Even fingerprint authentications are only around 75% successful due to contaminants such as dirt and sweat.
“Users need more convenient and accurate options for unlocking their devices,” said CK Lu, research director at Gartner. “Security technologies that combine machine learning, biometrics and user behaviour will become necessary to improve ease of use, self-service and frictionless authentications. Within the next five years new security technology will recognise the user, prevent fraud and detect automation threats such as malware, remote access trojans and malicious bots.”
