Creating empathy with AI: Importance of emotional intelligence in a conversational bot

The traditional view of AI has predominantly been transactional. AI systems have historically been designed to process inputs, generate outputs, and complete tasks with mechanical efficiency.

- Apurv Agrawal

This perspective has led to earlier 'Conversational AIs' being little more than script-following chatbots. In fact, many of these systems are still in use today. While these systems are often perceived as sufficient because they 'get the job done,' a human-centric perspective reveals their limitations.

Consider a scenario where a customer has lost critical sales data after a system crash and is on a call with an AI customer support agent. The AI responds with technically correct yet emotionally tone-deaf replies. Although the responses are factually accurate, they fail to address the emotional distress of the customer, who might be facing significant financial loss. These interactions lack acknowledgement of the customer's problem, the human touch, and an understanding of the crisis unfolding on the other side.

This underscores the critical importance of integrating emotional intelligence into conversational AI. The focus must shift from creating systems that merely respond to systems that comprehend, feel, and connect.