AI Learning Machine, 'Emotipig' and 'Training Humans'

On Netflix a series called 'Connected The Hidden Science of Everything' is presented by Latif Nasser, and every episode is interesting but the one about 'Surveillance' is fascinating.

Latif Nasser discusses a research project called 'Emotipig' related to facial recognition and understanding emotions through facial expressions, the approach used is advanced machine learning and AI (Artificial Intelligence).

With machine vision and machine learning the AI automatically detects and monitors key affective states in individually identified pigs using only the facial expressions. 

As the AI learning machine works, it is able to adapt by continuing to advance its own level of intelligence learning how to better 'see' the world around it. 

The project is called 'EmotiPig, Investigating automatic detection of emotion in biometrically identified pig faces using machine learning' (Baxter et al, 2019-2020).

The overview summarises some environmental and animal welfare benefits as well as advantages for our society and economy. We are effectively teaching this AI machine how to 'see' us and how to read us, and how to adapt and advance it's own intelligence whilst observing us, through surveillance cameras and by using our own personal data such as selfie photos. 

Facial recognition research is not new, and a gallery exhibition in Milan, Italy  displayed a vast data set of images used by AI machines from as far back as the 1960's it's called "Training Humans".  

“Training Humans”, conceived by Kate Crawford, AI researcher and professor, and Trevor Paglen, artist and researcher, is the first major photography exhibition devoted to training images: the collections of photos used by scientists to train artificial intelligence (AI) systems in how to “see” and categorize the world..." 

Found online at https://www.fondazioneprada.org 

@katecrawford @trevorpaglen