Suspect AI: Vibraimage, Emotion Recognition Technology and Algorithmic Opacity

Abstract

Vibraimage is a digital system that quantifies a subject’s mental and emotional state by analysing video footage of the movements of their head. Vibraimage is used by police, nuclear power station operators, airport security and psychiatrists in Russia, China, Japan and South Korea, and has been deployed at two Olympic Games, a FIFA World Cup and a G7 Summit. Yet there is no reliable empirical evidence for its efficacy; indeed, many claims made about its effects seem unprovable. What exactly does vibraimage measure and how has it acquired the power to penetrate the highest profile and most sensitive security infrastructure across Russia and Asia? I first trace the development of the emotion recognition industry, before examining attempts by vibraimage’s developers and affiliates scientifically to legitimate the technology, concluding that the disciplining power and corporate value of vibraimage are generated through its very opacity, in contrast to increasing demands across the social sciences for transparency. I propose the term ‘suspect artificial intelligence (AI)’ to describe the growing number of systems like vibraimage that algorithmically classify suspects/non-suspects, yet are themselves deeply suspect. Popularising this term may help resist such technologies’ reductivist approaches to ‘reading’—and exerting authority over—emotion, intentionality and agency.

Bosses without a heart: socio-demographic and cross-cultural determinants of attitude toward Emotional AI in the workplace

“…This finding implies that students who rated themselves to have more knowledge of AI might be unaware of the biases in and inaccuracy of emerging technologies. Taken together, these facts indicate many students might be ignorant of the ways in which social biases and privileges can lead to harmful EAI's use in the workplace, as shown in various studies on algorithmic biases (Rhue 2019;Crawford 2021, Moore andWoodcock, 2021;Buolamwini and Gebru 2018). Even though the problem of algorithmic bias has now moved to the center of public discourse in Western media (Singh 2020), when it comes to a multi-national sample, this study indicates a clear lack of knowledge as 51% of the respondents rated themselves below average in AI knowledge (Table 3).…”

“…Without the ability to backstage, empathic surveillance demands that a worker's persona must always be authentic and positive (Moore and Woodcock 2021). Under such conditions the regulation of emotion becomes work itself (Woodcock 2016;Cabanas and Illouz 2019). Indregard et al (2018) refer to this type of personal estrangement that occurs under empathetic control as 'emotional dissonance.…”

“…To de-escalate the potential for office environments to turn toxic, US company Spot markets an AI chatbot that identifies patterns associated with workplace harassment (Fouriezos 2019 ). Additionally, the security company Vibraimage sells ‘suspect AI’ camera recognition systems to global sporting events that allegedly ‘predicts’ criminal intention by monitoring and analyzing a person’s gait, head and eye movements, as well as facial expressions (Wright 2021 ). Vibraimage products have been used in Russian airports, Russian and Japanese nuclear powerplants, and convenience and retail stores in Japan (Kobata, personal communication, 2021).…”

Sociocultural factors influence young people’s attitude towards the harvesting of non-conscious emotional data

“…Another example of dataveillance is VibraImage, a software marketed by the Russian company ELSYS capable of detecting various emotional states through the head's micro-movements (Wright, 2021). This software was deployed during the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, and more recently, in nuclear stations and convenience stores in Japan.…”

“…This software was deployed during the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, and more recently, in nuclear stations and convenience stores in Japan. The technology is being considered by Korean National Police Agency for lie-detecting purposes (Wright, 2021).…”