Summary: EmoSync, an AI tool created by researchers, improves compassion by tailoring mental comparisons to user personality and past experiences. EmoSync uses a large language model ( LLM) to map individual traits and create unique situations that resonate more deeply than traditional empathy tech, which assumes uniform emotional responses.
Compared to traditional methods, those who used EmoSync in a study of over 100 participants demonstrated considerably better understanding of other people’s thoughts. The invention marks a new level in emotion-aware AI, with the goal of fostering genuine emotional understanding in challenging social settings.
Important Information
- EmoSync uses LLMs to create customized personal comparisons based on the user’s personality and beliefs.
- Validated Results: Compared to traditional empathy tools, users demonstrated substantially improved mental understanding.
- EmoSync helps bridge personal gaps in various societies by transforming the experiences of others into relevant experiences.
Origin: POSTECH
A research team at POSTECH ( South Korea’s Pohang University of Science and Technology ) has created AI technology that analyzes specific character traits and values to create personalized analogies.
The top 5 % of the 74 Interactivity track demonstrations at ACM CHI 2025, the world’s premier international conference on Human-Computer Interaction ( HCI), were given the” Popular Choice Honorable Mention Award.”
People from various ages and socioeconomic backgrounds coexist in a difficult world. Actually the idea of “empathy” may occasionally seem overwhelming, as people strive to understand each other because emotions can vary significantly from person to person even in the same circumstances.
Computer-based compassion systems have been based on the assumption that displaying the same experience would elicit related emotions up until now. Truth is more complicated, though: emotional responses vary widely depending on a person’s character, past experience, and beliefs.
EmoSync, an agent based in LLM, embraces and makes use of these unique differences. The LLM creates personalized associative scenarios that help people understand other people’s feelings through the camera of their own experiences by carefully analyzing each user’s emotional characteristics and personal response patterns.
For instance, EmoSync analyzes a person’s past experiences and makes a relevant connection, for as” a time of feeling excluded by peers during school days,” if the user struggles to communicate with simple discrimination or exclusion in the workplace.
This method uses the camera of well-known experiences to help users understand other people’s emotions more vividly and honestly.
Using this technology, the study team conducted research on more than 100 people from various backgrounds. The results demonstrated that EmoSync users had considerably improved their emotional understanding and empathy in comparison to traditional methods.
This clinically establishes the potential for personalized metaphorical experiences to increase empathy.
The study’s first author, Hyojin Ju, stated that “our study demonstrates that AI can be used to develop genuine understanding and empathy among people.” He continued to develop AI systems that promote real understanding and empathy in everyday life.
This study, according to Professor Inseok Hwang of POSTECH, is an excellent illustration of how conceptual AI can identify a user’s exclusive emotional makeup and create personalized experiences that trigger particular emotions. It is a book and valuable way to foster empathy in techniques that were previously unattainable, both academically and socially.
Professor Inseok Hwang and Ph. D. K. conducted this study. Working with Professor Jungseul Ok are Ph.D. students from POSTEC H’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Jungeun Lee, and Seungwon Yang.
Funding: The Institute of Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation ( IITP), funded by the Korean government ( NRF), the Mid-Career Researcher Program, the Future Convergence Technology Pioneer Project, and the Institute of Information & Communications Technology Planning andamp; Evaluation ( IITP), which also received funding from the Korean government ( NRF ).
About this study on AI and emotion
Author: Jinyoung Huh
Source: POSTECH
Contact: Jinyoung Huh – POSTECH
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: The findings will be presented at ACM Tai 2025.
