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Wednesday, October 14, 2026

Empathic AI workplace data privacy and employment issues arising from this emerging technology - Lewis Silkin

Smile! You’re on camera! And we are detecting your heart rate, pupil dilation, blood pressure, temperature, and other physiognomic measurements… Empathic Artificial Intelligence is a sub-group of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems which makes use of empathic technology: algorithms that purportedly have the ability to detect human emotions. In this article we consider the data privacy and employment issues for employers arising from this emerging technology.

Empathic AI

AI is becoming more commonplace in the workplace, spurred on by employers trying to maintain connections with and oversight of their workforce in a time when home working and hybrid working have become more prevalent. At the same time, many employers are seeking to improve efficiencies in processes and decision-making.

Empathic AI is a type of AI that discovers links between people’s physiological reactions and their emotional state using a whole range of factors, such as heart rate, pupil dilation, flushing of the cheeks, changes in voice tone etc.If effective, empathic AI could have huge potential in many areas, not least in a workplace context (HR teams would no doubt love to be able to read how a job applicant is feeling in an interview, or more deeply read someone undergoing a disciplinary process).

Current regulatory landscape

AI and machine learning systems are becoming ever more prevalent. With this growth comes increased attention and regulatory intervention. Of course, the UK and the EU already...



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