Rethinking technological acceptance in the age of emotional AI: Surveying Gen Z (Zoomer) attitudes toward non-conscious data collection

This paper examines technological acceptance for automated emotion-sensing devices and non-conscious data collection (NCDC). We argue that conventional 20th century scholarship of human-machine relations is ill-equipped in the age of intelligent machines that sense, monitor, and tracks human sentiment, emotion, and feeling. We conduct a regression analysis on a dataset of 1015 Generation Z student respondents (age 18–27) from 48 countries and 8 regions worldwide using the Bayesian Hamiltonian Monte Carlo approach. The empirical results highlight the significance of sociocultural factors that influence technological acceptance by this specific generational demographic. Our findings also demonstrate the advantage but also the inherent limitation of traditional theories such as Davis's “Technological Acceptance Model” in accounting for of cross-cultural factors such as religions and regions, given the transfer of new technologies across borders. Moreover, our findings highlight important governance and design implications that need to be addressed to ensure that emotional AI systems and devices serve the best interests of individuals and societies.