' in Corporate Software Raises Concerns

Companies are turning to AI to help their bots understand human emotion, a trend called “emotion AI.” PitchBook’s Enterprise SaaS report predicts this tech’s rise.

The logic: If AI voice assistants and chatbots handle exec support, sales, and customer service, they need to differentiate between an angry and confused “What do you mean by that?”

Emotion AI is a more advanced version of sentiment analysis, using multiple inputs with machine learning and psychology to detect emotions during interactions.

Major cloud providers offer emotion AI services, like Microsoft’s Emotion API and Amazon’s Rekognition (which has faced controversy).

While not new, emotion AI’s business potential has grown with the increase of workplace bots, according to PitchBook.

“With the proliferation of AI assistants and fully automated human-machine interactions, emotion AI promises to enable more human-like interpretations and responses,” writes PitchBook’s Derek Hernandez.

“Cameras and microphones are integral parts of the hardware side of emotion AI. These can be on a laptop, phone, or individually located in a physical space. Additionally, wearable hardware will likely provide another avenue to employ emotion AI beyond these devices,” according to Hernandez.

A growing number of startups are entering this field, including Uniphore, which raised $610 million, and others like MorphCast, Voicesense, Superceed, Siena AI, audEERING, and Opsis.

This tech-focused approach aims to solve problems created by technology’s interaction with humans. However, its effectiveness remains questionable.

Previous interest in emotion AI around 2019 faced challenges when researchers concluded that facial movements alone cannot determine human emotions. This questions the fundamental assumption behind teaching AI to detect feelings through human-like methods.

Potential AI regulations, such as the EU’s AI Act banning emotion detection systems in certain contexts, may hinder the technology’s growth. Some state laws also restrict biometric data collection without consent.

This situation highlights the complexities of an AI-driven future. Either AI bots will attempt emotional understanding for various tasks, or they may struggle with jobs requiring such capabilities. The alternative might be office environments filled with AI assistants similar to current-day Siri, leaving open the question of which scenario is preferable.