Apple has purchased a San Diego-based startup called Emotient, which makes artificial intelligence (AI) technology that analyzes facial expressions to identify people’s emotions. Emotient’s primary customers are advertisers who use it to gauge responses to ads, and it has also been used by doctors and retailers.
Apple did not reveal its plans for Emotient, but industry watchers are speculating that future Apple devices could come equipped with emotion-sensing technology.
The firm purchased another AI vendor, VocalIQ, last October. Several other tech companies, including Facebook, Google and IBM, have also recently been investing in AI technology.
