While artificial intelligence (AI) has seemingly made progress in almost every aspect of daily life, one area that remains untapped is human emotions. According to Cambridge Cognition, a digital neuroscience company, cognition refers to the mental process of knowledge accumulation and understanding through experiences, senses, and thoughts. In that respect, just like how science fiction movies were able to establish a connection with childhood, the Theory of Mind AI is believed to develop that connection with human emotions. “In the AI landscape, I believe Theory of Mind is a sign of AI progress, offering the prospect of machines that understand the complexities of human emotions and intentions. This development seems to have significance in bridging the gap between humans and AI and promoting a more symbiotic relationship. By fostering collaboration between humans and AI, we can unlock the potential of both,” Bhuvan Desai, VP of operations, Uplers, a technology professional-based platform, told FE TransformX.
From what it’s understood, Theory of Mind is the third AI category which is being developed to establish relationships with the human mind. Considered to be at a nascent stage, it can allow one to create human behaviour-based patterns based on social communication range, mental health, association, and empathy. Market research has shown that for the Theory of Mind AI, machine learning (ML) and AI algorithms are important as they can develop virtual assistants, AI mechanisms, and social robotics capable of bridging the gap with human minds. While the Theory of Mind AI is not completely ready, samples of it have started to pop up, such as the Theory of Mind Net (ToMnet), developed by Neil Rabinowitz, a research scientist, DeepMind, an AI research laboratory, which is capable of studying other AI mechanisms and understanding their behaviour patterns. Being composed of three Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), which are called units, it allows computers to make human-oriented choices while being uploaded with new information. In terms of progress made in the Theory of Mind AI landscape, an article published on Medium, an online publishing platform, stated the developments such as Conversational AI, Simulation and Cognitive Modeling, Emotion Recognition, Predictive Modeling, and Multi-Agent Systems.
“By bridging the gap between humans and AI, the integration of technology should become beneficial and responsible for society. The AI’s potential is expected to help address ethical, social, and economic concerns built on understanding and collaboration. Theory of Mind AI can enhance human-AI interactions by enabling machines to understand and respond to human emotions, intentions, and beliefs. This should foster more natural and effective communication, facilitate personalised assistance, improve collaborative efforts, and promote empathy,” Amit Relan, co-founder and CEO, mFilterIT, a fraud detection and prevention company, highlighted.
Talking about the startup landscape, it has been reported that certain AI-oriented startups have started to explore the Theory of Mind AI, including Entropik Technology, which provides solutions based on emotions to sort business issues, Cen Inc, which’s a deep tech-oriented human-AI company working towards a cloud platform to facilitate human intelligence, Realeyes, which works around emotion AI to better customer experiences, Betterhalf.ai, which uses AI for matchmaking online, and Cogito, which uses AI and ML to enhance phone professionals’ emotional intelligence. With regards to the ANN market, SNS Insider, a market research company, has predicted the market to clock $1.02 billion by 2030, being valued at $216.48 million in 2022, at a 46.03% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for 2023-30. Moreover, future predictions imply that the Theory of Mind AI can disrupt fields such as customer service, autonomous structures, education, healthcare, among others.
“Looking ahead, as technology continues to evolve and research progresses, Theory of Mind AI is poised to carve out a portion of the market. Its integration into all facets of life should become prominent as technology matures. A responsible AI ecosystem, that is AI understanding ethical considerations, safeguarding against personal data misuse, being context-aware and serving as knowledgeable and responsible friends to the humans,” Darshil Shah, founder and director, TreadBinary, a technology and consulting company, concluded.
