A computer has been taught to love.
Kinda.
Researchers in Malaysia have created a computer which can interpret human emotions based on the shape of your mouth.
Research published in a journal named the International Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing claims that the machine is able to correctly detect six commonly human emotions: sadness, happiness, disgust, fear, anger and surprise.
The computer analyses the top and upper lips separately, and uses a genetic algorithm to improve its ability to match the shapes to emotions.
The algorithm improves with every iteration, meaning it is getting better all the time.
The system used photos from people in South East Asia and Japan to learn about the various emotions.
There are arguable limits to the system, in that it only relies on information from the mouth and not the rest of the face.
Bu the researchers said it was an important breakthrough, that could help improve the way we interact with computers, or even robots - and how disable people communicate through computer devices.
"In recent years, there has been a growing interest in improving all aspects of interaction between humans and computers especially in the area of human emotion recognition by observing facial expression," said the team from Karthigayan Muthukaruppanof Manipal International University in Selangor, Malaysia.
"Earlier researchers have developed an understanding that allows emotion to be recreated by manipulating a representation of the human face on a computer screen. Such research is currently informing the development of more realistic animated actors and even the behaviour of robots."
We just wonder if it will ever evolve to recognise the emotion of being creeped out by emotion-recognising computers.