What Is ‘Emotion AI’ And Will It Define The Future Of Tech?

At this point, we’ve all become accustomed to Big Tech corporations and startup firms promising that their artificial intelligence program will revolutionize how humans engage with technology. Some of these applications have already gained quite a foothold in our culture while others appear to be little more than a gimmick.

But there’s one emerging use for AI that might be the key to bridging the gap between human and machine.

Emotional rollercoaster

Tech industry insiders seem to think that an application known as “emotional AI” could lead to the creation of robotic machines that can understand and mimic the feelings of humans.

Although that might sound a little creepy at first, proponents of such programs say they’ll be necessary to facilitate appropriate interactions with AI in the future. As we become more reliant on conversations with AI-powered platforms, we’ll need them to be able to differentiate between the tone of various questions — even if the words might be the same.

For example, the question “What do you mean by that?” could be asked out of genuine curiosity or in an accusatory manner. And AI will need to figure out which way it should interpret the query in order to provide the most appropriate response.

Why it’s so important

You’ve probably already engaged with some sort of AI bot, and the experience is almost certainly going to become more commonplace in the near future. Customer service might be the most obvious application of such tech, but we’ll see it implemented in many other facets as companies find new ways to replace humans with machines.

Even though there are several companies working hard to advance “emotion AI,” it’s important to realize that even if a robot’s empathy seems real, it’s limited by the algorithm its programmers provided.

Chris Agee September 2nd, 2024

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