Interview with Jonathan Gratch: "Machines, Emotions, and Human Uniqueness"

Dr. Jonathan Gratch is Research Professor of Computer Science and Psychology at at the University of Southern California.

His research is in the field of Affective Computing, the study of systems that model, interpret, and impact human emotion. Dr. Gratch tests theories of human emotion by instantiating them in machines, as well as studying human reactions to these machines.

“Going back to Darwin, science has led us to reconceptualize our relationship to nature. I think one potential implication of emotional machines is that [they] will influence the extent to which we see emotion as something uniquely human.”

Jump to a question:

• Who are you, where do you work, and what is the current focus of your research?

• What does emotion mean for a machine?

• What is the difference between behaving an emotion and experiencing an emotion?

• How does your work connect to emotion research in humans?

• Does a machine need to have a body to convey emotion?

• What are some applications of virtual humans?

• How do people treat machines compared to humans?

• Can machines fake emotions?

• What are some of the potential benefits and harms of your research?

• How does your work relate to the goals of traditional AI?

• How do you view the philosophical implications of your work?