Emotional Intelligence: Between Human Agency and Algorithmic Determinism

This study reviews the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in fashioning emotional intelligence (EI) in digital communication as it takes up the areas of algorithmic prejudice, commercialization of feelings, and creating social capital. The presence of AI in digital communication has significantly changed the dynamics of human interaction, affect expression, and the construction of emotions on social lines. AI-powered utilities such as sentiment analysis, emotion recognition, and bot response are more often facilitating social exchanges, recasting interpersonal interactions and social customs. The findings highlight a paradox: while AI boosts accessibility to emotional insights and promotes communication, it also risks reducing the authenticity, spontaneity, and depth of human affective expression. AI’s intrinsic biases can perpetuate existing societal imbalances, misrepresent emotional variety, and standardize affective reactions, leading to algorithmic emotional government. Furthermore, AI-driven marketing and political applications commodify human emotions, altering consumer behavior and ideological orientations. The traditional definition of human intimacy is upended by the rise of parasocial connections with AI agents, which raise the risk of social isolation and emotional dependence. The research points to the expanding presence of AI in surveillance driven by emotions in the workplace, governance, and security systems, compelling new forms of affective control. From a structuralist perspective, AI functions as a regulatory apparatus that dictates emotional norms, yet individuals retain agency in resisting algorithmic emotional standardization through digital literacy and ethical AI advocacy. The present research underscores the need for a critical sociological analysis of AI’s emotional intelligence, ensuring that human affect remains irreducible to algorithmic classifications.