The Fear of Amazon – A Preview of Emotion

The next episode of This Human Business is coming out on Monday, but the topic is of that episode is the use of emotion in business. That’s something that made the news today. Let’s talk about it.

Today, it was announced that an artificial intelligence system under development at Amazon called Rekognition is now able to detect fear, using digital devices that scan the human face for signs of emotion. 

This new is, well, scary. Whether Amazon can really do what it said it can do, people are now asking the more important question: Why is Amazon interested in developing automated AI systems that are capable of telling when people are frightened?

One of the quick excuses used by defenders of the Emotion AI industry is to say that the software will merely be used to tell movie and television producers when their narratives are emotionally engaging with their audiences.

AI advocates love to pretend that their technologies will be used only for benevolent purposes, but there is no denying that Amazon has other ideas. Amazon has declared that, despite protests from the general public and its own employees, it will pursue contracts with the military.

This isn’t futuristic science fiction speculation. This stuff is happening right now. Just today, the U.S. military released a request for bids on an artificial intelligence system that will automatically identify people who should be killed, and direct explosive missiles flying through the air to perform the assassinations, all without any human review involved. Amazon has refused to say that it won’t participate in projects like this.

So, what possible use is there for an Amazon technology that uses artificial intelligence to automatically detect when people are afraid, and then execute an automated response? Think Abu Ghraib. Think torture, automated to perfectly exploit people’s fears, without any humans present to hear the victims scream.

It’s time to get serious about emotion in business. It isn’t just a warm and fuzzy issue. It goes far beyond a getting a bunch of design thinkers together in a conference room to talk about empathy.

The very future of human freedom is at stake.

On Monday, August 19, a new episode from the podcast This Human Business will confront the dark side, the light side, the absurd side of emotion in business.

This is a sick and twisted ride we’re on. Tune in on Monday to find out where it leads.