A new API from the University of Cambridge’s Psychometrics Center may one day play a large role in profiling every single internet user.

The Prediction API by Apply Magic Sauce (AMS) is capable of translating your digital footprints into a detailed psychological profile.  Essentially what that means is it can create a profile by tracking all your Facbook likes, and you (or someone else) can take a look at it to analyze your psyche.

The API currently only accepts Facebook LikeIDs, but the researchers are planning to implement a much more robust system using aggregate inputs from other sources.

So where does this type of analytics come into play in the real world? Well, virtually everywhere.

For many years, the big hype around big data is that we’ll eventually be able to figure out everybody’s hot buttons by analyzing their digital footprints.  This powerful marketing tool is being sharpened continually, but apparently there’s another big use for AMS’s psychological profiling tool.

According to AMS, they envision their API being applied to the recruiting and hiring process.  Employers (and even colleges) use the internet to profile their job applicants, and anything shared publicly could be used for, or, against job seekers.  The AMS API will provide hiring managers with a good glimpse of your psychological state and whether or not you’re fit the position.

“We help you rapidly assess and give feedback to job applicants,” according to the AMS site.

Of course the intent behind the API isn’t to keep you from your dream job.  That said, according to the researcher’s website, the technology is adaptable on my fronts—many of which are meant to benefit the consumers.

For instance, AMS wants you to claim your digital individuality, or as they put it: “Be more than a number.”

“We want businesses to use Apply Magic Sauce because it gives you the chance to find out about your digital self at the same time that they do… [And] make it commercially impossible for data giants to operate without first earning your trust and sharing what they know about you…”

Interested in learning more about the API and the good (or evil) that it’s doing for the world? Head on over to the University’s AMS site and figure out whether or not you should plug yourself into the matrix.

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