AI study claims tennis is the most ‘euphoric’ sport. I’m not convinced
Football FTW
Measuring emotions
Emotion recognition technology (ERT) is an extremely controversial area of AI. Scientistshave arguedthat the systems are not only inaccurate and biased, but akin to phrenology.
The skepticism is rational. People show their emotions in countless ways, which makes analyses based on facial movements unreliable at best.
Researchshowsthat emotions are expressed differently across cultures and societies. ERT has also beenfoundto interpret Black people’s faces as angrier than white people’s — regardless of their expressions. The consequences could be horrendous when the tech’s deployed in public spaces, policing, and hiring.
In addition, there are countless variables to consider when analyzing emotional reactions. The Freeview study only analyzed the responses of British viewers, whose tastes will somewhat reflect their country’s sporting culture.
Reactions to sports could depend, for example, on their level of coverage. Football is constantly shown on British TV, which may trigger different responses to those observed in less exposed sports.
Ultimately, the study makes dubious generalizations about individual reactions. It’s also demonstrably incorrect: tennis is objectively a boring sport.
Yes, I said objectively. Don’t believe me? Well, let me prove it with my own scientific findings:
If that’s somehow still insufficient evidence for my finding, compare the emotions in these randomly selected images of mathematically average tennis and football fans.
I rest my case.
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Story byThomas Macaulay
Thomas is a senior reporter at TNW. He covers European tech, with a focus on AI, cybersecurity, and government policy.Thomas is a senior reporter at TNW. He covers European tech, with a focus on AI, cybersecurity, and government policy.
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Football fan:
Tennis fans:
I rest my case.
Greetings Humanoids! Did you know we have a newsletter all about AI? You can subscribe to itright here.
