What if your computer could tell that a blog you were reading was making you sad? Or if you secretly thought something was hilarious- when it shouldn’t be? Affective Interfaces, a startup out of San Francisco, has developed technology and software that is nearly 90% accurate in gauging human emotional responses. The implications of the software are potentially big for ad agencies eager to track the emotional response of the public at large to their content. It has utility for other applications too like drowsiness detection in vehicles and educational tools for students too shy to raise a hand, or maybe even internet speed dating (She twitches ever so subtly and then “She’s lying….She’s a liar!” flashes at the bottom of your screen, imagine the money it would save you-you internet speed dater you ) Unveiled at Tech Crunch 50 Affected Interfaces’ sentiment detection technology also records a full biometric analysis of user’s responses- meaning we can narrow to seconds where content is missing the mark or having full impact; it “breaks down the emotional data” god…I had a night like that once.

AI isn’t the only company looking to get inside your brain- and not the only one from the Bay Area either (What’s up with that place?)

NeuroSky, of San Jose, has developed lightweight brain-control interfaces that are now going into children’s toys like The Force Trainer, a Star Wars toy that trains you to use the force to lift a ball up in the air with your thoughts alone. while another company, Emotiv of San Francisco plans to start selling a mind-control headset in time for the holidays. Seriously- 40 years ago San Francisco was all about mind altering and mind expansion, now it’s all about mind-machine interfaces. This kind of technology is also being explored for military use and has been explored in a previous Senses post. Military software developed to train sailors and flight simulator programs have been developed by the Military and Navy to prepare soldiers for real world situations in the pas. So how do you prepare a soldier for mind control star wars Darth Vader nuclear android mayhem? Buy him a video-game when he’s 13 and get the ball rolling early.

Remember you can’t hug your children with nuclear arms…but you can show them you love them by buying brain-control interface toys like the Force Trainer for them this Christmas. Preparing them for a possible life as post- apocalyptic cyborg nomads. (you know you want to click on that link)

For video of Affected Interfaces launching their technology at TC50 go here