Girl Decoded

February 1, 2020
An innovative scientist's memoir explores her quest to humanize technology. El Kaliouby, who grew up in Egypt and Kuwait in a conservative family, is the co-founder and CEO of Affectiva, an "AI startup spun off from the MIT Media Lab." Tracing her journey from academic to global industry leader, the author describes her creation of a new realm of computer science, one that integrates artificial intelligence with emotional intelligence (EI). The author, "a child of the computer age," charts an impressive research path from her doctoral studies at Cambridge University to postdoctoral work at MIT to the private sector. El Kaliouby, a self-described nice Egyptian girl, candidly shares her successes and challenges alongside passionate insights about gender and culture. She also unpacks how drive and determination can stretch imagination, documenting how she helped to design and build facial detection elements to enhance the mechanics of AI with emotion. Based on existing digital connectivity, the author sees AI-EI integration as an inevitability rather than an option. However, she doesn't make a case so much as explain how the ghost may fit in the machine. The narrative is a fairly one-sided, optimistic view that may not convince critics or digital minimalists, but it should also help inspire like-minded thinkers to continue to innovate. Citing numerous potential benefits that include responding to declining empathy rates and prospective medical applications, el Kaliouby outlines her company's emphasis on upholding high ethical standards and protecting privacy. The author misses a few opportunities for deep reflection on nuanced concerns such as technology addiction, potential conflicts between corporate interests and public trust, and the implications of expecting machines to respond rather than just compute. Though somewhat unbalanced, the book effectively conveys her goal of improving people's lives through technology that is sensitive to human sentiment. A decent encapsulation of the early stages of a possible visionary path forward with AI.

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February 10, 2020
El Kailouby, cofounder and CEO of the tech firm Affectiva, debuts with an uneven recounting of her personal and professional experiences working in the field of “Emotion AI.” El Kailouby’s professional message comes through with sincerity, as she enthuses about the possibilities of computer programs that can interpret people’s emotional states by collecting data on facial expressions and other nonverbal cues. El Kailouby will win over fellow technophiles as she describes holding a hackathon to encourage programmers from diverse backgrounds to contribute to Affectiva’s software, and working on an “emotion prosthetic” to help autistic people understand others’ facial expressions. The details of her personal life—juggling the expectations traditionally placed on “nice Egyptian girls” while pursuing her technological vision, and watching the post-Tahrir Square period of unrest in her home country while working in the U.K. and U.S.—also make for intriguing material, but her discussion of them feels surface-level and self-conscious, as if she’s working too hard to come across as a simultaneously aspirational and relatable role model. Readers will find el Kailouby’s book an appealing manifesto for Emotion AI, but only a serviceable memoir.

February 28, 2020

Does technology take away our empathy? This is just one question el Kaliouby sought to address while earning her PhD in computer science. This memoir, cowritten with Colman (coauthor, The New Mobile Age), begins with el Kaliouby's childhood in Egypt and chronicles her life through becoming an American citizen and CEO of the company Affectiva, which develops technology that detects human emotions. Readers interested in emotional intelligence and technology will be intrigued by the author's journey, as the account offers more than fascinating scientific facts. We also learn about el Kaliouby's family and culture, and aspects of various fields such as psychology, computer science, religion, and even romance, as el Kaliouby unfolds the story of her life and personal relationships, and how political climates in both Egypt and America impacted her. She discusses her transition from academic to entrepreneur but also shares her beliefs and missteps in reading the emotions of others while trying to teach computers to do what she herself apparently could not. VERDICT This mix of eloquent prose and technical writing will appeal to a range of readers, especially those looking for more insight on women in tech.--Natalie Browning, Longwood Univ. Lib., Farmville, VA

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2019

Egyptian American el Kaliouby, named among Forbes's Top 50 Women in Tech and Fortune's 40 Under 40, understands that much communication is effected through tone of voice, facial expression, and body language--qualities largely lost in computer exchanges. So she became a leader in the field of Emotion AI, cofounding the MIT Media Lab spinoff Affectiva with the aim of bringing emotional intelligence to technology (think computer applications of emotion recognition technology in fields like mental health and autism). Also included: her personal story as a Muslim woman in a coding universe ruled by men.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.