TOKYO — For decades, economists have tried to guess central bank policy direction by studying subtle changes in official language -- now, researchers are finding new clues on policy, not in the words of central banker but in their faces. In Japan, two artificial intelligence researchers, one from Nomura Securities and the other from Microsoft, are using software to analyze split-second changes in the facial expressions of Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda at his post-meeting press conferences. The implication is that Kuroda was beginning to sense the constraints of existing policies about six or seven weeks before the central bank's board actually decided to change them, the researchers concluded. The research was presented last weekend to a subcommittee meeting of the Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence (JSAI). Advertisement Continue reading the main storyAt press briefings that took place immediately after the changes were announced, Kuroda's face registered less "sadness", they found.

Source: New York Times October 20, 2017 06:22 UTC