December 1, 2011

Gaming Tech Might Soon Read Facial Expressions

As gaming tech closes in on the ability to tell players' expressions, can lip-reading artificial intelligence be far behind? Larry Greenemeier reports

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In 2001: A Space Odyssey, astronauts Bowman and Poole conspire to shut down their ship's computer, HAL. They speak out of HAL's earshot. One problem. [HAL]: “Although you took very thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.”

Could never happen in our time, right? Well, according to the Eurogamer Web site, the next generation of Microsoft's Kinect gaming technology will bring lip-reading artificial intelligence closer with major improvements in motion sensing and voice recognition.

The gist is that the Kinect 2 will be able to send more information faster to the Xbox gaming console. This has led to speculation that the Kinect 2 will become sensitive enough to be able to read facial expressions and detect emotions based on the tone of a player's voice.

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Kinect 2 is supposed to arrive by the end of 2012, the same time as the two new versions of the Xbox. Which means we've got only a year to learn how to play our cards close to the vest in the presence of the gaming system. You never know when Kinect 2 might take offense at being turned off while the humans have dinner.

—Larry Greenemeier

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]

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