The Most Manipulative Use of Kinect Imaginable
The good people of GeekWire spotted a patent application from Microsoft that envisions using Kinect to figure out your mood, and target ads at you accordingly. The application, filed back when Kinect was rather new (in December of 2010) was made public this week. (It’s not the first Microsoft patent application expressing an interest in tracking users’ moods.)
How exactly would it work? The idea is that Kinect’s motion and facial recognition technology could figure out whether you’re sad or happy, and serve up ads that jive with your mood. The patent application contains unusually colorful language about how exactly the Kinect (or other computing device) might infer mood.
“If the user on the videos or images from the webcams is dancing, the advertisement engine may assign a positive emotional state, such as, glad or happy, to the user…If the user on the videos or images from the computing device, e.g., Microsoft Kinect, is screaming, the advertisement engine may assign a negative emotional state, such as, upset, to the user. If the user on the videos or images from the computing device, e.g., Microsoft Kinect., is pacing back and forth, the advertisement engine may assign a negative emotional state, such as, worried, to the user.”
Good thinking, Kinect!
It’s undoubtedly true that we respond differently to ads, depending on our mood.