Synthetic Empathy Raises Urgent Questions for AI Regulation

Affective computing, a field pioneered at MIT, now powers AI systems that detect and simulate human emotion across call centers, cars, and companion apps. The market is projected to exceed $17 billion, yet ethical guardrails remain thin as evidence of harm mounts. A 2025 Pew study found nearly a third of US teens use chatbots daily, intensifying calls for limits on how deeply machines can pretend to care.