What is the price of laughter? According to a comedy club in Barcelona, facial recognition can help determine the cost.
Barcelona's Teatreneu club installed facial recognition software on tablets located on the back of its seats to detect when a customer laughs. The comedy club charges $0.38 per laugh. Customers who are worried about a not-so-funny high bill should know that the comedy club caps the laughter cost of 24 Euros, or $30.45.
The new charges were created in an attempt to bring more people to their shows. An increase on government taxes has caused tickets to increase and business to decrease.
The use of facial recognition software started as an experiment with the partner ad agency The Cyranos McCann. The experiment has been successful, causing the Teatreneu club to continue to implant the software technology and raised ticket prices by six Euros. Customers now can buy 80 laughs and then can laugh for free.
While having technology detect your facial reaction may cause only nervous laughter for those who find it creepy, the technology and business model is being "copied in other theatres around Spain."
"Sounds fun, just so long as all the facial recognition data doesn't get forwarded to the NSA [US National Security Agency]," director of London's 99 Club, James Woroniecki says.
Customers fighting over a check may debate whether a chuckle is considered a laugh, and the pressure is on for comedians to bring on the funny in Barcelona.
