AI is Getting a Feeling: The Rise of Emotional Intelligence in Artificial Intelligence
San Francisco, CA – June 25, 2025 – For years, the measure of Artificial Intelligence has been its ability to crunch numbers, solve complex equations, and demonstrate logical reasoning. But a quiet revolution is underway. The next frontier in AI isn’t about what a model knows, but how it understands – and responds to – human emotion. This shift, driven by competition amongst tech giants and a growing understanding of what truly resonates with users, is poised to fundamentally change how we interact with technology.
Recent developments signal this dramatic pivot.While traditional benchmarks still prioritize analytical skills, companies are increasingly focused on building “emotionally smart” models. This isn’t just about creating more pleasant chatbots; it’s about unlocking a new level of AI capability with profound implications for everything from mental healthcare to personal assistance.
democratizing Emotional AI
A key moment arrived last week with the release of EmoNet by LAION, a prominent open-source AI group. this suite of tools focuses on interpreting emotions from voice recordings and facial photography, aiming to make this crucial technology accessible to self-reliant developers.”This technology is already there for the big labs,” explains LAION founder Christoph Schuhmann. “What we want is to democratize it.”
This democratization is vital. The leading AI labs – OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Anthropic, and DeepSeek – are already making notable strides. In fact, a recent study from the University of Bern revealed that these models outperform humans on psychometric tests for emotional intelligence, achieving an average accuracy of over 80% compared to the human average of 56%.
The Chatbot Arena Effect & New Benchmarks
The competitive landscape is also playing a role. platforms like LM Arena,recently spun off as a $600 million startup,are fueling the race for emotionally intelligent models. the platform’s “chatbot arena” ranks models based on user preference,and emotional intelligence is proving to be a major factor in those rankings.New benchmarks, like EQ-Bench, are specifically designed to test AI’s ability to understand complex emotions and social dynamics. Developer Sam Paech notes that openai’s models have shown ample progress in the last six months, with Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro also demonstrating a focused effort on
