Adaptive Multimodal and Multisensory Empathic Technologies for Enhanced Human Communication

ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, May 2021 As digital social platforms and mobile technologies are becoming more prevalent and robust, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in facilitating human communication will grow. This, in turn, will pave the way for the development of intuitive, adaptive, and effective empathic AI interfaces that better address the needs of socially and culturally diverse communities. I believe such developments must consider a principled framework that includes the human perceptual senses in the digital design process right from the start, for a more accurate, as well as a more aesthetic, memorable, and soothing experience. In this position paper, I suggest features, identify some challenges that need to be addressed in the process, and propose some future research directions that I think should be part of the design and implementation. Such an approach will allow various communities of practice to investigate the areas of intersection between artificial intelligence, on one side, and human communication, perceptual needs and social and cultural values, on the other.