Affectiva

Affectiva is a company that develops software for measuring and analyzing human emotions and cognitive states from facial expressions and voice. Founded in 2009, Affectiva uses artificial intelligence and computer vision to interpret nuanced human expressions and vocalizations, providing insights into emotional engagement, attention, and other human factors.

The company's technology, often referred to as "emotion AI," is designed to be integrated into various applications and devices. It has been utilized in market research for understanding consumer reactions to content, in automotive safety systems to monitor driver fatigue or distraction, and in educational software to gauge student engagement. Affectiva's core technology is built upon large datasets of human faces and voices, which are used to train its machine learning models.

Affectiva's approach involves capturing data through cameras and microphones, then processing this data to identify and quantify different emotional states. These states can include happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, fear, and disgust, as well as cognitive states like attention and confusion. The company emphasizes the ethical development and deployment of its AI, aiming to provide objective measures of human experience in a way that respects privacy. Affectiva's technology aims to bridge the gap between human interaction and digital experiences by making systems more sensitive to human emotions.