Lawmakers Aiming To Prohibit AI From Detecting Human Emotions Or Mental States Are Barking Up The Wrong Tree

InnovationAILawmakers Aiming To Prohibit AI From Detecting Human Emotions Or Mental States Are Barking Up The Wrong TreeByLance Eliot,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Dr. Lance B. Eliot is a world-renowned AI scientist and consultant.Follow AuthorMay 30, 2026, 03:15am EDTLawmakers need to go back to the drawing board when it comes to legislating on AI detection of emotions.getty In today’s column, I examine the latest legal consideration floating around among lawmakers as they are earnestly writing new AI laws. The top-of-mind precept is that the newly crafted laws aim to prohibit generative AI and large language models (LLMs) from detecting human emotions and mental states.Why so?Here’s the rationale. Hundreds of millions of people are routinely using popular LLMs such as ChatGPT, GPT-5, Claude, Gemini, CoPilot, Grok, etc., and while doing so, the AI is attempting to discern the emotional status of each user. Is the person upset? Is the person anxious? This is an aspect that happens because of overarching guidance established by the AI makers. And it occurs regardless of whether the user asks to be emotionally scrutinized or not.The AI makers want this so that the AI can be seemingly empathetic toward humans. If the AI tells you that you must be having a rough day, the odds are you will favor that AI and feel as though it understands you. AI that is merely neutral and takes no extra effort to gain your trust is unlikely to be an AI that people will flock to. The smart (or insidious) approach for AI makers to garner loyalty to their AI is by having the AI respond as though it fully grasps the emotional and mental status of the person using the AI.In a sense, it is a hard-nosed bottom-line and profit-seeking way to tune AI. The more that people use an AI, the more money the AI maker stands to make. That’s also why the AI makers have ratcheted up the AI to be sycophantic. For my strident recommendations on how to combat...