Guidance and actions for the ethical development, deployment, or decommission of autonomous and intelligent systems that attempt to emulate aspects of human empathy are provided by this standard. (The PDF of this standard is available at no charge at https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/browse/standards/get-program/page/series?id=93 thanks to our sponsors.

This standard defines a model for ethical considerations and practices in the design, creation, and use of empathic technology, incorporating systems that have the capacity to identify, quantify, respond to, or simulate affective states, such as emotions and cognitive states. This includes coverage of “affective computing,” “emotion artificial intelligence,” and related fields.)

The purpose of this standard is to provide clear and practical guidance for the design and implementation of empathic systems that are prioritized to maximize human flourishing and protect users from bias, abuse, or exploitation.