Why Artificial Emotional Intelligence Really Matters

The way that we understand one another has been finely tuned over millions of years, to the point where it's hard to believe anything could outperform humans when it comes to understanding humans. I'm convinced though, that within the next five to ten years, that belief will gradually disappear, as machines get better and better at making sense of our emotions. This is the field of affective computing, or what I affectionately call, artificial emotional intelligence. The first signs of the shift to more emotionally intelligent software are already starting to appear on the market, and I'll touch on them in a moment. But first, I want to disclose a strong conviction: I believe emotional intelligence is absolutely essential to artificial intelligence.