It is hard to convey empathy on Zoom. After more than a year of relying on video calls and virtual meeting platforms during the pandemic, the limitations of the technology are clear.
But some are trying to redesign this technology, to pick up on subtle social cues and the nuances of human expression — making digital communication closer to the way we interact in person.
“Digital platforms are emotion-blind,” explains Rana el Kaliouby, co-founder and chief executive of Affectiva, the Boston-based artificial intelligence company. It specialises in artificial emotional intelligence, or what it calls Emotion AI: technology that aims to improve how computers interact with humans.