Embarking on a mission to humanize technology, Rana El Kaliouby, CEO of Affectiva, found herself pioneering Emotion Artificial Intelligence (AI) during her PhD at Cambridge University. Recognizing the lack of emotional intelligence in technology, Rana co-founded Affectiva at MIT, now a multi-billion dollar industry with applications spanning health, automotive, video communications, and robotics. Therefore, Rana El Kaliouby and her son Adam provide us with a fascinating glimpse into the future of AI and its diverse range of applications, making it clear why this is a topic of great significance. Background and Journey Q: Can you share your personal journey and what led you to co-found Affectiva, particularly in the field of emotion recognition technology? What real-world applications do you find most impactful? Rana: I’ve been on a mission to humanize technology before it dehumanizes us. My journey pioneering Emotion AI began during my PhD at Cambridge University, where I noticed that technology has lots of cognitive intelligence but no emotional intelligence. Later at MIT, I saw an opportunity to commercialize my research and started my company Affectiva out of MIT to bring Emotion AI to several industries. Today Emotion AI…
