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Yes, Humans and Machines Could Teach Each Other More Empathy

November 30, 2020

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Empathy is an essential part of our lives. But can human beings and machines share the same empathy? After all, understanding emotions is a matter of pattern recognition. As the world is becoming more technologically advanced, many are inclined to assume that compassion is decreasing. However, the age of artificial intelligence isn’t one that lacks empathy. On the contrary, recent innovations should have the power to enhance kindness. And we’re also entering the era of Artificial Empathy (AE).

So, if there are apps that can help us manage our finances, improve our security, or learn and work remotely, why can’t we have apps that teach us empathy, compassion, and forgiveness? The truth is, the tech industry can play a vital role in enabling us to practice these skills.

 

Does Virtual Reality help?

One of the recent tools that have proven useful in teaching empathy skills is Virtual Reality. VR can help users experience new situations and can be extremely useful for children that struggle with socializing or expressing emotions, providing practice opportunities in a simulated environment.

 

The power of virtual reality is that it widens our horizons and helps us understand what it’s like to live as someone else. But can AI make us kinder? Many studies are showing that empathy can be taught and learned, but some methods are costly and difficult to introduce into everyday interactions. Today, AI is making efforts to overcome these challenges. 

 

Machine learning and emotional analytics

During our digital interactions, we may lose essential aspects of communication. The good news is that AI could help us become more compassionate. In fact, by 2030, the World Economic Forum predicts that technology will let us connect more cohesively. And there are already devices with emotion-enabled systems that have sensors to read a mood through facial and voice recognition patterns. 

So, machine learning can detect stress and anxiety. But machine learning can also increase awareness through “deep empathy.” One such project is MIT’s Deep Empathy project that uses deep learning features to identify characteristics of Syrian neighborhoods affected by conflict and simulate how other cities would look in similar situations.

Speaking of awareness, Emotional Analytics (EA) software is a technology that collects data on how a person communicates verbally and nonverbally. Organizations can use EA to gain insights into a customer’s perception of a product or interaction with a customer service representative. Further, emotional data can be used to create strategies that will improve CRM. 

Companies could use EA software programs alongside data collection, classification, analytics, and visualization initiatives, and the implications of this technology could be massive. It could bring more value while providing more effective services. So, in the upcoming years, empathy will be essential.

 

The future of artificial empathy

Artificial empathy is defined as “the ability of nonhuman models to predict a person’s internal state (e.g., cognitive, affective, physical) given the signals (e.g., facial expression, voice, gesture) or to predict a person’s reaction when exposed to a given set of stimuli” (Wikipedia). 

Voice assistants are one such example, and the way they deliver information could be modulated to respond to an individual’s emotional state. This, however, is no easy task. It may be possible for machine learning to distinguish smiles and grimaces, but in reality, the range of facial expressions and their meaning is much more complex than AI has so far been able to detect. We can smile in frustration or cry with happiness.

In his book, Heartificial Empathy, Minter Dial describes artificial empathy as the coding of empathy into machines. For example, in healthcare, doctors and nurses can enhance the quality of their care for dementia patients by gathering information, monitoring, and refining treatment plans through artificial empathy.

 

Conclusion

As our ability to empathize declines, our interest in learning how to do it rises. And technology can go various ways when it comes to driving empathy—or the lack of it. 

Today, the importance of empathy in machines is no longer just a distant thought. Empathy is a game-changer, and technology has the potential to change the world. So, imagine the two of them combined.