The Impact of Emotional Artificial Intelligence

In the field of artificial intelligence, efforts to design tools that can understand and manage interactions with humans by taking emotions into account have sparked significant debate. Over the past few years, this issue has increasingly featured in public discussions, with numerous articles, reports, and opinion pieces appearing in the press. The study conducted at the University of Rennes aims to capture the contours of this public debate on emotional AI. It seeks to identify the perceived benefits and the value these innovations promise, while also highlighting the risks and potential threats they may entail. Our study is based on an analysis of 43 press articles published in 2024 and 2025. These articles were identified using keyword searches in specialized databases. For each article, we produced a summary identifying the type of piece, the actors mentioned, and the arguments put forward, whether they emphasized positive or negative values associated with emotional artificial intelligence. We then compared these arguments in order to extract the main themes and positions. In this article, we present three key issues raised in the public debate on emotional AI, focusing on perceived affective and social risks. Our aim is to analyze these concerns in order to guide the development of this technology towards a greater consideration of the fears expressed in societal debate.