AI and the Human Need for Emotional Connection

Abstract

Societies are becoming increasingly more emotional. Under the frame of reference of the sociology of emotions and neuroscience, the protagonism that emotional action is acquiring in modern social theory in order to understand the evolution of social cohesion processes, that is, the integration of citizens and their community, is confirmed. Hence the transcendence of sentimental discourse in fields as diverse as politics, advertising, and journalism, among others, which tend towards personalisation, individualism, and the storytelling format as techniques and stories through which to connect emotionally with voters, consumers, and readers, respectively. Consequently, the aim is to investigate whether artificial intelligence (AI) has come at the right time to help us to compensate the lack of use of data and information inside the discourse that appears to be disappearing or even to enhance our creative skills. At a methodological level, a mixed approach is proposed, combining quantitative data on the expectation that the launch of ChatGPT has caused in society, together with qualitative data, that has been collected interviewing professionals who work with AI in their day-to-day work.