Electronic facial recognition will never be able to interpret emotions

Spektrum der Wissenschaft

27.4.2020

Translation: machine translated

Angry, happy, sad? One day, algorithms will be able to read our emotions from our faces. Researchers are now saying that this will probably never work.

The man in the picture - is he yawning? Is he singing? Is he perhaps even shouting? It's not that easy to read a person's facial expressions. Let alone draw conclusions about a person's state of mind. But this is exactly what computer algorithms for facial recognition should be able to do in the near future. Researchers led by computer scientist Aleix Martinez from Ohio State University have now explained that software will probably never be able to do this. The scientists reported at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science that facial expressions would not reliably convey what a person is feeling. Because people can also disguise their facial expressions. In addition, certain facial expressions are valid for different emotions. Psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett from Northeastern University, who also spoke on this topic at the science conference, cited studies showing that angry people actually only looked grumpy 30 per cent of the time. They would also make the same facial expressions when they were concentrating or reacting to a bad joke.

Another problem is caused by different cultural influences. One example: When someone opens their eyes wide and raises their eyebrows, this facial expression usually conveys surprise in Central European cultures. In some countries in south-east Europe and Anatolia, it is customary to simply say no with this expression.

The context counts

As Martinez and his colleagues go on to report, various companies have already developed algorithms that can deduce emotions from facial expressions. The researchers have tested these types of AI. The researchers' conclusion: "Some (companies) claim they can determine whether someone is guilty of a crime or not, whether a student is paying attention in class or whether a customer is happy with their purchase," says Martinez. "Our research has shown that these promises are complete nonsense." Such facial recognition programmes would prove to be particularly problematic if, for example, professional decisions are made on the basis of their results.

After all, it is the entire context that counts when reading a person's emotions, the researchers emphasise. So not only what facial expressions a person shows, but also their facial colour and posture as well as the place they are in.

And what about the man in the picture at the top? What is he really doing? He's obviously yawning.

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