Natural language processing and affective computing

What are the natural extensions of machine learning (ML) and deep learning as well as natural language processing (NLP) and affective computing (AC)? To many people, what distinguish machines from humans is emotion. True, some existentialists might push the envelope and go so far as to say consciousness (which is a valid argument), but the primary existential reality is emotion. A computer is not a living entity, does not understand empathy and cannot gauge how we feel. It does not and cannot care whether its users are happy, sad, frustrated or simply regretting a heavy lunch.