Legal incentives for innovations in the emotional AI domain: a carrot and stick approach?

Emotions strongly influence the human way of living and life experiences. In this context, Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies are crucial to pushing developments further. Although emotional AI-driven innovations are welcome in our society, they might also have negative effects on the interdependence and autonomy of natural persons. Thus, they might be challenged by several legal provisions in the EU such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the draft AI Act. Yet these inventions require considerable investment, where legal incentives such as intellectual property rights (IPR) are crucial. Indeed, it is also important to secure certainty as to the legal and ethical acceptability of such innovations. This article looks at emotional AI to investigate the interlinkage between technological innovations, legal incentives and ethics, through the lenses of patent law and fundamental rights, in order to shed light over the challenges, limitations, but also opportunities for the protection, commercialization and exploitation of emotional AI-related inventions. Our research offers new scientific knowledge on the largely under-explored issue of legal incentives for emotional AI-related inventions in the European framework. It also provides companies and inventors with key points to consider in decision-making related to investments in and incentives for emotional AI-related innovations, also elaborating on suggestions for the European legislator and policymakers to better stimulate and promote emotional AI technology through regulation.