For years, my professional world was defined by high-stakes precision. As a patent attorney for Apple, I worked on the iTunes platform as well as the ground-breaking Air Pod wearable computing technology. At Alcon, I helped pioneer computer vision and AI systems for retinal surgeons—finding signals invisible to the human eye and overlaying real-time intraoperative guidance directly into a surgeon's field of view in augmented reality.
At the exact same time, I watched my Loved One suffer in silence. Like many with autism, their greatest obstacle was "reading the room"—picking up on the subtle, non-verbal emotional cues that neurotypical kids can oftentimes perceive effortlessly. They desperately wanted to make friends, but after a traumatic bullying incident at school, they went inward, shutting out the world for months.
Then came my late-night "aha moment." The realization struck with absolute clarity: If I could build spatial AI to guide a surgeon through the delicate geography of an eye, I could build spatial AI to guide my son through the complex geography of human emotion.
SocialQ was born that night—not to build another app, but to fulfill a deeply personal mission: giving neurodiverse children a high-tech tool to help them "read the room" and find more social confidence.
SocialQ’s Grounding Design Philosophy: “Beyond the Screen”
We built SocialQ to solve the “real-world transfer” problem:
AboutFace™: A fun, positive-habit-forming software platform that teaches emotional recognition through digital mirroring at home, in classrooms, and in clinics.
Read the Room™: A live social assistant using smart glasses to deliver subtle, real-time spatial cues in the physical world—functioning like "night vision goggles" for social context.
KindridAR™: AI/AR Smart Glasses open a world of Augmented Reality gameplay for kids with ASD to play, learn & grow together socially.
Rewriting the Rules of AI: Built with the Community, Not Just For Them
There is a fundamental flaw embedded deep within the status quo: facial recognition AI is overwhelmingly trained on neurotypical faces. Because neurodivergent individuals often express emotions uniquely, using neurotypical-trained algorithms to coach autistic kids is inherently flawed. At SocialQ, we refuse to accept that bias. We are actively collaborating directly with neurodivergent individuals and digital communities to collect authentic, neurodiverse facial expression data. By training our algorithms on real, diverse expressions, we are creating a proprietary dataset that provides truly empathetic, accurate feedback.
Built from a Father's Mission. Driven by Spatial Intelligence.
How a collision between ophthalmic surgical AI and a child’s silent struggle birthed a new standard of care for autism.
The Mission Ahead
I’ve learned that "reading the room" isn't a luxury; it’s the difference between feeling isolated and feeling like you belong. Later in life, it's the difference between an awkward encounter and a lifelong friendship, or a job rejection and a career.
Reading the room is learnable—when given the right tools. At SocialQ, we're building those tools so no child ever has to feel invisible again.
Joseph Weatherbee
Founder & CEO, SocialQ, Inc.
What Sets Us Apart
People-First Approach
Everything we do is built around understanding your needs and helping you succeed—because when you thrive, so do we.
Long-Term Relationships
We’re not just here for the now. We love creating lasting relationships with our clients and growing with them over time.
Proven Process, Flexible Execution
We bring structure where it counts and adaptability where it matters. Our methods are clear, but always responsive.