Customer Acceptance of AI-based Emotion Recognition in Marketing Applications

While the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in digital marketing applications as well as the use of AI-based emotion recognition (ER) have been intensively studied independently of each other, and also some proposals for combined applications exist, the potential acceptance of the latter by customers remains an open issue. Therefore, in this paper a model for studying their acceptance is derived, based on a qualitative study. Results indicate that there are customer segments characterised by extremes in terms of their attitudes towards ER. In addition, numerous communication aspects for increasing the willingness to use ER have been identified, including transparent communication and emphasizing user benefits.