Mood detectors: Can computers understand the way we feel?

What do you think of when you hear the term artificial intelligence? Outrageous Hollywood movies like machines taking over the world perhaps! In computing we are trying to teach machines to behave with at least as much intelligence as human beings.

But social skills and emotional intelligence are other parts of human reasoning and behavior, which are critical for a social life and career progression. So, as part of artificial intelligence, can a computer have the capacity for emotion and expression too?

Imagine you are chatting to someone online and you find out that it was a machine at the other end rather than a human being. If this ever happens then the machine passes the “Turing Test”. This is still a long way off and is a relatively new topic for researchers to tackle. To investigate this problem they are using a fusion of computing and psychology.

Join us for this talk by Les Ball which will explore the inclusion of emotional content into computers and how it could possibly be useful in the real world. This FREE talk will be taking place at the award winning Chambers Coffee House and Restaurant will be open before the talk for delicious hot meals, snacks and drinks, see their website for more information.

This talk is part of our brand new fourth season of Cafe Science Dundee! You can view the whole programme of Cafe Science and Cafe Science Extra talks here.

We have a range of topics and excellent speakers lined up for this season, we hope to see you at a Cafe Science soon!