AI-powered augmented reality devices will give human beings ‘superpowers’ to detect lies and ‘read’ emotions of people they are talking to, a futurist has claimed.
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Devin Liddell, Principal Futurist at Teague, said that computer vision systems built into headsets or glasses will pick up emotional cues that un-augmented human eyes and instincts cannot see.
The technology would let people know if their date is lying or is sexually aroused, along with spotting a lying politician.
Could augmented reality give people mental superpowers by using computer vision to analyze the emotional cues of other people
Liddell said that as augmented reality ‘merges’ with artificial intelligence, humans will gain sensory superpowers which will ‘transform the social landscape.’
He described this as ‘backchannel’ – a term normally used to describe discussions that are not made public and which can give people an advantage in negotiations, for example.
Liddell expects a ‘convergence of computer vision technologies with artificial intelligence and consumer wearables’ in the coming years.
‘Wearers will be able to discern all sorts of physiological and psychological data about other people,’ said Liddell.
‘Paired with AI, this will give people a constant backchannel about people they’re interacting with at the moment.
The futurist believes that glasses could silently deliver information that could offer people an advantage in everything from politics to the dating scene.
Devin Liddell, Principal Futurist at Teague believes AR and AI will change the way people interact (Teague)
Liddell said, ‘Is the other person nervous or calm, interested or annoyed, etc.? Are there markers that suggest they’re being untruthful? Are there indicators that suggest they’re attracted to the viewer?’
The global market for augmented reality is forecast to hit $597.54 billion by 2030, according to Grand View Research, with Apple’s $3499 Vision Pro launching in early 2024.
AI is already showing promise at ‘reading’ people’s emotions, with companies such as Zoom introducing ‘sentiment analysis’ into trial products – where machines read what people are feeling and what they are saying based on their expressions.
The technology is controversial: Microsoft retired an ’emotion-reading’ function in its Azure Face software due to a ‘lack of scientific consensus’ and ‘privacy concerns.’
Liddell believes that these perceptive ‘superpowers’ will enable people to spot everything from hidden illnesses to mental issues – and that they will be put to full advantage.
In negotiations, for example, such ‘superpowers’ will give one side an advantage – and on dates, they could offer a key advantage.
‘Humans engage in many opportunities and advantage-seeking behaviors, and they’ll put these backchannel superpowers to use across all sorts of domains, from complex political negotiations to ordinary first dates,’ Liddel said.
‘Early use cases will feature scenarios in which only one participant has backchannel superpowers, creating grossly uneven playing fields, so eventually, everyone will have them on some level.’
Using such tools has already been controversial – as witnessed in a 2016 study by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, where researchers claimed a neural network could identify criminals from a picture of their faces with an accuracy of 89.5 percent.
Liddell said that in the future, daters might be able to gauge the financial well-being of their date – and even their fertility simply by looking at them.
Simply by looking at a date, for example, users could see whether someone is telling the truth or is sexually aroused, along with other information such as their fertility.
Apple recently unveiled its AR headset, Vision Pro, that merges a virtual world with reality. Experts believe devices like this will be able to tell you what other people are thinking – just by you looking at them
‘Imagine in the future when you have AI and computer vision to assess your dates,’ said Liddell.
‘The best illustration might be of a future dating interface as seen through glasses or retinal implants during a date.
READ MORE: Scientists create an AI that can detect deception
The system could tell if somebody was lying with 73 percent accuracy – slightly lower than a polygraph test, which is accurate 80 percent of the time.
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‘You’re sitting across from your date and as you talk and get to know one another, you’re provided real-time info about that person and how they feel.
There could be something like a truthfulness index, anticipated fertility rates, indicators of financial strength–current and projected, health and fitness metrics, signs of current or previous substance abuse, arousal indicators, emotional instability etc.
‘And maybe only one person on the date can access this type of tech, leaving the other to rely on old fashion intuition.’
The power of the technology will lead to bans, Liddell said.
‘There will be efforts to ban their use due to serious abuse cases—think customs officials barring entry to travelers with mental illness and unscrupulous employers weeding out less-healthy job applicants from their health insurance rolls before they can be hired,’ he continued.
‘Partners and families will seek to set aside the home as backchannel-free.
‘But these attempts at resistance will be for naught as the systems get increasingly smaller and inexpensive, eventually finding their way into our bodies through retinal and ear-canal implants.
‘Eventually, backchannel will be a transformative way of perceiving and influencing the human fabric, a superpower turned everyday.’
