Can Your Computer Tell If You’ve had Too Much To Drink?

It’s bad enough that Skynet will one day take over and computers will rule the  world but now, even before we get there, computers are prepared to rat us out if we have had too much to drink!

Computers can now tell if you’re drunk without you saying a word or even touching the machine.

Using infrared cameras, scientists have actually taught a computer algorithm to recognize drunk people by their facial flush. Having a drink or two actually makes your blood vessels relax and widen, which brings them closer to your skin. This leaves your face hot and red, and you at the mercy of this new computer.

In Greece –where apparently they drink when they should be saving their eonomy- researchers basically just got a number of  volunteers tipsy and took thermal images of their faces before and after drinking four drinks. Though different participants reached different levels of intoxication from the same amount of alcohol, they all reached a blood alcohol content (BAC) of at least 0.05.

After analyzing the images one pixel at a time with a special program, they determined that the best indicator of a person's state of intoxication is the temperature of the forehead and nose. Using that information, they then built an algorithm that could determine who was sober and who was drunk with a 90 percent accuracy.

The hope is the technology could help police pinpoint drunk individuals, or that it could be installed in certain vehicles to prevent drunk driving. (PopSci)