Bibliography
Pal, K. (2018, 9 12). www.techopedia.com. Retrieved from How Can AI Help in Personality Prediction?: https://www.techopedia.com/how-can-ai-help-in-personality-prediction/2/33380
Takeaway: Can AI understand your personality just by looking into your eyes? That's what researchers are working on, and this technology can help humans better understand each other.
Human characteristics are one of the most complicated areas to predict. But, personality has a tremendous impact on every sphere of our lives. So, it is a very challenging and interesting task to find a way to understand human personality. Artificial intelligence (AI) plays an important role here. The starting point is to capture people's eye movement data. It has been found that our eye movements are greatly influenced by our personality. So, AI algorithms can collect the eye movement data, analyze it and predict our personality. Here we will explore how AI can help us detecting human personalities, and how that can help people.
Personality and Eye Movement
Eyes are the interface between the external world and our inner mind. Eyes are also said to be the "mirror of our mind" and the "window to our soul" –they reflect our personality to the outer world. If we carefully look at our eyes, they exhibit different types of activities apart from just eyeball movements. For example, the pupil expands and contracts, and many other movements can be observed as well. Each of these activities are influenced by various stimuli.
On the other side, our inner thoughts, perceptions, opinions, anger, laughter, likes/dislikes – everything is conveyed to the outer world through our eyes. So, if you can read a person's eyes, you can understand their personality in a better way. Maybe it's not 100 percent accurate yet, but it can give reasonably correct results.
How Can AI Capture the Data?
Eye-tracking sensors: There are various eye-tracking technologies available on the market to capture eye movement data. Sometimes these technologies capture data for both eye and body movement, since there is a direct relationship between eye movement and body movement. These technologies are usually in the form of a wearable device fitted with a camera, and sometimes other sensors as well. The data is captured and transmitted to the tracking software. It is also possible to stream live data to this software. Then, the software is responsible for analyzing it or passing it to other analysis software.
Smartphones: Smartphones are everywhere nowadays, and they have a tremendous impact on our lives. The smartphone revolution is also helping in personality detection in an indirect way – eye movements are easy to capture with smartphones. Phones can capture data 24/7 as people are using them. The eye movement data can be captured in two ways: One is by using a common video camera fitted with a smartphone. The second is to capture data by using an infrared camera with LED lights. There are various products and apps available on the market to capture eye movement data and perform personality analysis. So, don't be surprised if your smartphone knows more about you than you realize!
Prediction-based algorithms: Different prediction-based algorithms are widely used in eye-tracking detection systems on various smartphones. Sometimes accelerometers are also used with smartphones to measure calibration. There are lots of eye-tracking or blink-detection algorithms available for mobile devices. These algorithms for smartphones are also helpful for eye data capture and prediction.
Machine learning: Machine learning is playing a major role in determining personality. The first step is to capture the data (eye movement, pupil size, etc.) and the second part is to analyze it. On this analysis part, machine learning techniques are more accurate than other options. However, the success of analysis depends upon the data volume and learning algorithms. A larger volume of data provides accuracy in prediction.
Accuracy of the Predictions
Researchers from various institutions are conducting regular studies to predict this technology's accuracy. It has been found that people with similar personalities also have similar eye movements. Still, there are a lot of areas which need to be studied in detail to obtain better accuracy. The volume of quality data is the root of success. It will help the prediction-based systems to yield better results, which may be very close to the actual personality.
How Can This Be Used?
In the recent past, eye-tracking technologies and personality prediction were just a promising area. However, now it is in the mainstream production environment. Big companies and organizations are showing interest and developing systems and technologies to get better results. Personality and behavior prediction has a tremendous impact on every sphere of life. Many things can be managed in a better way once we understand the personality and behavior of a person.
The following are some practical applications where AI and personality prediction can help make a big difference:
Student career prediction and guidance: Our personality has a lot of influence on our careers and what we are doing. So, personality data analysis is very important to help predict our career interests and guide accordingly. The student personality data is collected from various sources like social media navigation, eye tracking, physical activities, etc. Then, the data is analyzed with the help of AI tools. It reveals a lot about a student, and helps to guide them in a proper career direction, where the success rate is likely to be higher.
Employee recruitment/hiring: Hiring the right candidate is always a big challenge for organizations. And, if there is a wrong selection, then it is a waste of time and money. This is where AI comes in: It can predict and match candidates' profiles for a particular job requirement. With the help of personality data and AI, we can explore a lot of things about a candidate even without speaking a single word. And then we can filter the profiles to narrow down the search. It helps in selecting the best candidate and increasing hiring efficiency. (To learn more about tech in HR, check out How Machine Learning Is Impacting HR Analytics.)
Customer care: Customer care is another area where personality prediction and AI is playing an important role. A customer care department can create personality profiles for their customer base. That way, the service representatives are aware of their customers' usual behavior well in advance. Then they can try to represent themselves in an effective way, which is more acceptable to their customers. It creates a big impact on the customer base and their satisfaction.
Virtual reality (VR) and the gaming industry: An immersive feeling is very important in virtual reality and the gaming industry. With the help of eye-tracking data and AI, it is possible to increase the immersive feeling when someone is playing a game or traveling in a VR environment. It helps to render the appropriate segment of the game or VR program where the person is looking or expected to look. Based on this AI analysis, the rendered area is made more visible and clear to the person using the system. So, in the near future, the VR and gaming industry will have a revolution with the help of AI and personality data. (For more on VR, check out Tech's Obsession With Virtual Reality.)
Medical diagnosis and treatment: Personality prediction is also helping in medical treatment. The personality of a patient is important while forming the process of treatment and suggesting medicine. If doctors can have a better idea about their patients, their mental strength/weakness, etc., it can make the treatment more effective.
Advertising/market research: Advertising and marketing is one area where personality data and its interpretation is very important. Advertising and market research firms are experimenting a lot with data and trying to predict the personality and interest areas of their customers. Eye-tracking technologies are playing a big role here. The data collected helps to identify where the customer is paying more attention. It could be a particular ad campaign or a section of the ad. Based on this data, personality and interest area can be predicted. As a result, advertisers will be able to propose more appropriate services/products to its customers.
Conclusion
Here we have tried to explore a different side of AI and its impact on personality prediction. Human behavior is very complex area, and it has a tremendous impact on social life, the work place, personal life and many other areas. So, personality prediction is an area of great interest. AI, along with other technologies and devices, can help to predict human behavior in a better way, and in the future, the area of personality prediction will grow and help us to lead better lives.