Uber’s Patent now has a feature that uses AI (artificial intelligence) to tell if its riders/ passengers are drunk, just by the way they use their smartphone.

The ‘predicting User State Using Machine learning’ patent is targeted towards identifying people in an abnormal state from factors including the number of typos made, walking speed, and who precisely a customer clicks on buttons and links on their phones.
The patent stated that ”User behavior may be against the user’s prior behavior to determine differences in the user behavior for this request and normal behavior of prior requests”. Systems can also alter the parameters of a service based on the prediction about the state of the user requesting the service”.

This means that Uber drivers can refuse to carry passengers in an inebriated state. Critics also pointed out that the feature could be used by drivers to identify vulnerable passengers.

Uber stated that ”We are always exploring ways that our technology can help improve the Uber experience for riders and drivers. We file patent applications on many ideas, but not all of them actually become products or features.”

Source: https://cover9ja.com/uber-patent-uses-ai-to-detect-if-riders-are-drunk/