👥 Partner work

Look at each other. One person acts out an emotion (anger, joy, scepticism, etc.), and the other guesses what it is.

Question: How did you recognise the emotion? (Eyes, corners of the mouth, body posture?)

Did you understand your partner's emotion? We humans usually find it relatively easy to analyse the facial expressions and gestures of the person we are talking to and assign them to an emotion. But does this also apply to artificial intelligence (AI)?

Sentient machines? How AI reads our emotions

Have you ever wondered whether your computer or smartphone can “understand” whether you are happy, angry or sad? What sounds like science fiction is already a reality. Researchers are working on teaching artificial intelligence (AI) to recognise human emotions. This exciting field is called ‘affective computing’ or ‘emotion AI’.

But how does that work when a machine doesn't have any feelings of its own? AI is like a kind of super detective for emotions. It analyses huge amounts of data to learn patterns. To do this, it uses various clues:

• Facial expressions: A camera can film and analyse your face. Are the corners of your mouth turned up or down? Are your eyebrows drawn together?
• Voice: A microphone records how you speak. A high-pitched, fast voice often indicates excitement or joy, while a slow, deep voice tends to indicate sadness.
• Text: AI can also evaluate chat messages or emails. The choice of words and the emojis used give it clues about your mood.

In some areas, AI is already superior to us humans. A study by the University of Bern showed that AI was better than the average human at distinguishing real pain from feigned pain. It recognised tiny, lightning-fast muscle movements in the face that we often miss.

Nevertheless, it is important to understand that AI only recognises patterns; it does not feel anything. It does not know what joy or sadness really feel like. Context is also crucial. A smile can also be a sign of politeness or insecurity. AI is therefore a powerful tool for recognising emotions, but it cannot yet replace the deep, human understanding of feelings.

📋 Select the correct statement.

📹 How AI decodes our emotions

Watch the video to learn more about the current state of research. Then complete the tasks with the help of the video.

🔎 Artificial intelligence or human?

Read through the diary entry and then consider whether the text was written by artificial intelligence or a human being. Answer the reflection questions to help you decide.

👩‍🏫 Note for teachers

The text was written by AI. It was instructed to write text that was as human-like as possible.

November 15th

Dear Diary,

Today was just the worst. Liam came to school with the brand-new G-Phone 15. The one with like, five cameras that can practically see into the future. Of course, everyone crowded around his desk at lunch. He was acting so cool, showing them how the camera can zoom in on a bird outside the window like it's some professional movie. He even let Sarah take a selfie with it, and she wouldn't stop talking about how amazing the quality was and how good she looked.

I just sat there, pretending to be super interested in my squished sandwich. I had my own phone in my pocket, but I didn’t dare take it out. The screen is cracked in the corner, and the battery dies if you look at it for too long. It felt like a stupid, old brick compared to his shiny new spaceship of a phone.

It’s this weird, tight feeling in my chest, like I can’t breathe right, and my face gets all hot. I know it's just a phone, but it’s not. It’s that his parents just got it for him, no questions asked. Meanwhile, my parents keep saying my phone is "perfectly fine" and that I need to "learn the value of things." It’s so unfair. I hate feeling this way. Liam is my friend, and I’m supposed to be happy for him. But all I could think was, "Why him and not me?" I just wanted to be the one showing off something new for a change.