Study: Artificial intelligence outperforms humans in empathizing with emotions

United States – A new study, conducted by the University of Southern California (USC), found that artificial intelligence is better at detecting emotions than humans.

As artificial intelligence becomes more prevalent in everyday life, understanding its potential and limitations in meeting human psychological needs has become more important.

“In the context of the growing loneliness epidemic, a big part of our motivation is to see if artificial intelligence can help people feel heard,” said the study’s first author, Yidan Yin, a postdoctoral researcher at the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurship Studies at USC. “.

The research team studied people’s feelings regarding being heard and other related perceptions and emotions, following receiving a response from the artificial intelligence or human.

Participants received messages generated by the AI ​​or by a human respondent, with information that they were either AI-generated or human-generated.

“What we found is that the actual and presumed source of the message played a role,” said Cheryl Wakslak, an assistant professor of management and organization at the University of Southern California. “When people received a message from the AI, they felt more heard, but when they knew the message came from the AI, it made them feel less heard.”

Individuals also reported feeling uncomfortable when they realized that the response in empathy originated from the AI, highlighting the complex emotional landscape that AI-human interactions navigate.

AI-generated responses were associated with increased hope and reduced distress, indicating a positive emotional impact on recipients.

The findings highlight the potential of AI to augment the human ability to understand and communicate, and raise important questions regarding what it means to truly be heard, and practical questions regarding how best to leverage the strengths of AI to support greater human flourishing.

The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Source: Medical Express