Abstract
Affective computing, also known as emotional artificial intelligence (AI), is an emerging and cutting-edge field of AI research. It draws on computer science, engineering, psychology, physiology, and neuroscience to computationally model, track, and classify human emotions and affective states. While the US once dominated the field in terms of research and citation from 1995–2015, China is now emerging as a global contender in research output, claiming second place for the most cited country from 2016–2020. This article maps the rhizomatic growth and development of scientific publications devoted to emotion-sensing AI technologies. It employs a bibliometric analysis that identifies major national contributors and international alliances in the field over the past 25 years. Contrary to the ongoing political rhetoric of a new Cold War, we argue that there are in fact vibrant AI research alliances and ongoing collaborations between the West and China, especially with the US, despite competing interests and ethical concerns. Our observations of historical data indicate two major collaborative networks: the “US/Asia-Pacific cluster” consisting of the US, China, Singapore, Japan and the “European” cluster of Germany, the UK, and the Netherlands. Our analysis also uncovers a major shift in the focus of affective computing research away from diagnosis and detection of mental illnesses to more commercially viable applications in smart city design. The discussion notes the state-of-the-art techniques such as the ensemble method of symbolic and sub-symbolic AI as well as the absence of Russia in the list of top countries for scientific output.
Highlights
Artificial intelligence (AI) is going to fundamentally reshape how we work and live
If the techno-geopolitics of the twentieth century can be defined by the Arms Race and Space Race between the US and Russia, the early twenty-first century may be remembered as the AI race between the US and China
While the history of research and development of AI can be attributed to Western pioneers such as Alan Turing and John McCarthy or American-based think-tanks such as RAND, China’s meteoric economic and military rise is paralleled by their prolific output in cutting-edge AI research and development (Wu et al, 2020)
Summary
Artificial intelligence (AI) is going to fundamentally reshape how we work and live. The transformative impact of AI has already begun—from emotionrecognition applications and sensors in advertising and marketing, to autonomous cars and home assistants, to workplace recruitment and automated management, to mood self-tracking devices and healthcare robots, to predictive policing and algorithmic sentencing, to border control and autonomous weaponry in war. The US was the frontrunner of the AI race in supercomputing, it is clear that China’s AI research initiatives are beginning to outstrip all of its Western competitors (Martin, 2021). Neither country, or for that matter members of the international community has reached a consensus on the values that should be embedded in AI decisionism. This issue is even more complicated due to fundamental ideological, political, and cultural differences between the liberal West and authoritarian-leaning China, especially in relation to data privacy, public welfare, human security, and civil rights (ÓhÉigeartaigh et al, 2020; Thornhill, 2019)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
