When Machines Think But Can't Feel - The EQ Crisis

Let’s talk about the irony nobody wants to acknowledge: as our AI tools get frighteningly smarter, we humans seem to be getting emotionally dumber.

I’m not throwing stones from a glass house here. I’ve spent the last decade watching this unfold—first as a curious observer, then as a concerned therapist, and now as someone who’s genuinely worried about where we’re heading.

The Uncomfortable Truth About Our AI World

The numbers don’t lie, and honestly, they’re keeping me up at night.

Since 2019, global emotional intelligence scores have dropped by 5.5%. During the same period, AI investment has skyrocketed to $184 billion annually. Nearly three-quarters of businesses have adopted AI for something or other, yet barely 11% of their employees use it weekly, and fewer than 6% feel comfortable with it.

This isn’t just correlation—it’s a relationship gone sideways.

What we’re experiencing isn’t just technological growing pains. It’s what researchers are calling an “emotional recession” that’s becoming part of a larger “Metacrisis”—a fancy term for “we have a lot of interconnected problems and no, turning it off and on again won’t fix it.”

The Paradox That Nobody Prepared Us For

Here’s the brutal truth that Silicon Valley sales pitches won’t tell you: AI systems can score higher on IQ tests than 99% of humans, but they utterly fail at emotional intelligence tests.

The supreme irony? As machines get better at “thinking,” the value of our uniquely human emotional capabilities skyrockets. The skills AI can’t replicate—empathy, self-awareness, relationship management—are suddenly the most valuable currency in the workplace.

Yet instead of doubling down on these distinctly human strengths, we’ve been chasing machines down the rabbit hole of pure logic and efficiency.

Three Seismic Shifts Happening Whether We’re Ready or Not

1. Our Emotions Are Now Data Points

We’ve entered a world where AI doesn’t just analyze spreadsheets—it analyzes your face, voice, and written words for emotional content.

Companies like Affectiva are building technology that reads facial expressions. Salesforce Einstein now analyzes customer feedback not just for information but for emotional tone. What Vertical Labs calls “an emotional radar for customer vibes” is really just algorithmic emotion mining.

Is this progress? Maybe. Is it unsettling? Absolutely.

2. From “Getting Things Done” to “Feeling Good About It”

The automation conversation has shifted. Five years ago, it was all about speed and efficiency. Now, it’s about crafting “emotionally resonant experiences.”

Tools like Observe.AI help identify customer friction points in real-time. Soul Machines creates digital avatars supposedly capable of emotional responses. The goalposts have moved from “Is it fast?” to “Does it feel human?”

The problem? Most of these emotional experiences are carefully engineered—not genuine. They’re the uncanny valley of emotional connection.

3. Measuring the Unmeasurable

Success metrics are evolving beyond productivity targets to include emotional impact. Companies like BetterUp are attempting to blend emotional intelligence with business goals. Cogito provides real-time feedback for “better” communication.

We’re trying to quantify emotional connection—to measure something that, by its very nature, resists measurement.

Why EQ Matters More Than Ever in 2025

Remote Work Isn’t Going Anywhere

More than a quarter of Great Britain’s workforce now works in hybrid arrangements. In the U.S., 87% of employees choose flexible work when given the opportunity.

This distributed reality demands emotional intelligence like never before:

• Self-management: The ability to stay productive and balanced without external structure
• Remote leadership: Maintaining engagement across screens and time zones
• Digital cohesion: Building real connection without physical presence

When you can’t read body language across a conference table, you’d better be skilled at reading between the lines of a Slack message.

Someone Needs to Be the Heart in the Machine

As AI integrates deeper into our workplaces, emotionally intelligent professionals are the ones who:

• Use technology as a tool, not a replacement for human connection
• Adapt to constant technological change without losing their center
• Address the very real human anxieties about AI
• Maintain the “why” when the machines are handling the “how”

I’ve sat with clients who’ve been “optimized” out of their humanity. The antidote isn’t rejecting technology—it’s bringing our full humanity to our relationship with it.

Diversity Needs EQ to Become Belonging

Emotional intelligence is the bridge between diverse teams and truly inclusive ones. As organizations prioritize diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB), EQ becomes essential for:

• Getting beyond your own perspective
• Recognizing and addressing unconscious bias
• Creating spaces where different voices are genuinely valued
• Moving from “diversity is an HR initiative” to “we belong together”

Where Do We Go From Here?

The smartest organizations in 2025 are adopting what Six Seconds calls a “Yes AND” strategy:

1. Training teams in emotional intelligence alongside technical skills
2. Building emotion-aware features into systems, but with transparency and consent
3. Redefining success to include wellbeing, not just output
4. Developing clear AI strategies that put humans at the center
5. Investing in EQ development at every level, from entry-level to C-suite

The Bottom Line

I don’t have all the answers. No one does. But I know this: emotional intelligence isn’t a soft skill or a nice-to-have anymore. It’s the difference between thriving and merely surviving in our increasingly complex digital world.

The most promising future isn’t one where AI makes emotional intelligence obsolete—it’s one where our uniquely human emotional capabilities work in concert with artificial intelligence to create something better than either could achieve alone.

The technology will keep advancing. The question is: will our humanity advance with it?

~ Vivi