Affective computing could make healthcare AI more considerate of human feelings
Only two of 156 scientific papers on AI published over the past 12 years used emotion as input data, according to a new literature review. And the reviewers focused on a specialty ripe for augmentation by artificial emotional intelligence: pregnancy health.
What’s more, the researchers found no significant studies at all dedicated to emotion AI, which is also called affective computing (AC), as applied to the health and wellbeing of pregnant women.
The authors of the review, published in IEEE Access, call the latter finding “remarkable.”
“Despite the relevance that emotional status can have as a risk factor during pregnancy, one of the main findings of this study is that there is still not a significant amount of literature on automatic analysis of emotion,” PhD candidate Andreea Oprescu and colleagues at the University of Seville in Spain comment in their discussion section. “Health enhancement and wellbeing for pregnant women can be achieved with artificial intelligence or affective computing-based devices, hence future work on this topic is strongly suggested.”
In coverage posted at IEEE Spectrum, Oprescu points out that stress, anxiety and negative feelings are risk factors for poor outcomes in pregnant women.
“An app or wearable that takes these feelings into account could better help detect and monitor certain conditions,” the outlet suggests.
Meanwhile Aleix Martinez, PhD, director of computational biology and cognitive science at Ohio State University, advises prudence in such pursuits.
“I caution people about trying to use a variable that is so difficult to understand and estimate in anything that has to do with medical diagnosis or interpretation,” Martinez tells IEEE Spectrum writer Megan Scudellari.
Oprescu allows that AC has far to go before it’s able for wide applications in healthcare. Still, in pregnancy health and many other subspecialties, she says, “emotion is important. We think that should not be overlooked.”
The study is available in full for free.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.