In New York, USA, there is a small startup called Hume AI who has a noble idea. Which? This: Artificial intelligence systems cannot just understand language and information, but must also understand human feelings, relationships and emotions.
Too idealistic? Sara. Meanwhile, around this idea he has already raised funds for almost 13 million dollars.
If they want to understand the world, they must understand us too
The CEO of Hume AI, Alan Cowen, a computational scientist specialized in the study of emotions, seems to have quite clear ideas. He emphasizes the need for AI to focus on human emotions rather than imitating critical thinking.
For this, he says, his startup aims to help automated systems better understand the feelings of human beings, such as happiness or frustration.
Artificial intelligence technology combined with the ability to detect human emotions could improve the effectiveness of AI-based systems.
You call them, if you want, (human) emotions
Not just lights, actually. In terms of artificial intelligence, as with all technologies that have just exploded, there are many shadows. One above all: creating AI capable of understanding human emotions increases the risk of manipulating these emotions.
Cowen says it has built safeguards into its protocols, and assures that Hume AI will ask its customers to respect a series of limits when using the technology.
Among these, precisely the prohibition of use for surveillance or manipulation purposes, to prevent people from ever being deceived. How? Making them believe they are conversing with a sentient being, or even a real person.
“Artificial intelligence should be used to improve our happiness, not to push purchases or generate clicks.”
I hope so.
