Interview with Aura Martínez: Can AI feel the way we do?
An interview by Antonia Hirschmann
Martínez is pursuing her PhD at the Complutense University of Madrid, where she analyses how artificial intelligence (AI) interprets human emotions in film reviews. For the winter semester, she is joining h_da, where she is not only conducting research but also teaching on the MTS master’s programme. In this interview, she talks about her research, her path into academia, and what brought her to Germany.
Why did you want to come here for the winter semester?
I’m from Tenerife, and when you live in the Canary Islands, you only have one season — summer. It’s sunny and humid every day, so I really enjoy the windy and cold days here. I just love winter. The only thing I don’t like is that it gets dark very early — by about six it already feels much later — but that’s really the only downside for me.
Why did you choose Germany, and specifically Darmstadt, for your research stay?
I was lucky! My supervisor in Spain put me in touch with Professor Lars Rademacher, who kindly offered me this opportunity. I really like Germany. I’m learning the language, and the people here have been very kind to me. Germany also has a strong focus on technology and excellent university programmes. Darmstadt, in particular, offers interesting programmes in film, AI and computer science that perfectly match my interests. I hope to work here in the future.
How did you get into science?
I studied psychology, and I also have a master’s degree in criminology. Initially, I wanted to be a criminal profiler. Then, I started studying journalism. But I also love science, and I’m a big fan of cinema and sci-fi. In my PhD programme, I’m bringing it all together. Science fiction films allow us to dream about things like AI and machines. I also try to understand society, which is how I combine psychology and journalism in my work.
What is your research about?
I want to find out whether AI can feel the way we do. My project analyses AI’s ability to process human emotions through film reviews.
How do you carry out your research?
I work in three stages. First, I analyse a film review myself and then feed the same review to ChatGPT for analysis. I then compare the two analyses – the human one and the AI’s – to identify the differences. In the second stage, I feed the same review to ChatGPT again, several months later, to see whether its responses remain consistent or whether they change. Finally, in the third stage, I examine the types of words it uses to describe emotions.
Why did you choose film reviews as your dataset?
Because the answers aren’t obvious. Reviews contain a wide range of emotions – such as happiness, sadness, loneliness and empathy – all within a short text. Reviews can also be complex, employing irony or sarcasm. If you were to use a romantic novel, for example, you would only find emotions such as love or hate. In reviews, however, you find many emotions intermingled.
Did any of your results surprise you?
Yes, mainly the lack of consistency. ChatGPT changes its answers after a few months. It also often uses nouns and verbs to describe emotions, which surprised me. For instance, it regards words like ‘authority’ and ‘crisis’ as emotions, but they aren’t. This demonstrates how AI struggles to interpret the complexity of human emotion. I still have to finish the project, but these results already show that AI doesn’t truly ‘understand’ feelings the way we do.
What is important about your research? Who can use the results?
I want to show whether machines can be like us and understand emotions the way we do. Many researchers are trying to create robots that resemble humans, with brains, bodies and even feelings. I hope my project can serve as a small step in that direction. If machines can understand our emotions, they can help us more effectively, for example by diagnosing illnesses or supporting mental health. AI is very important in the medical field. That’s why I believe this research matters.
How do you view AI — as a threat or an opportunity?
I’m a big fan of AI and I see it as a friend. A lot of people think AI will destroy us, but I believe that, in the right hands, AI can be our salvation. It can help humanity. We just need to use it responsibly. Perhaps not in five or ten years, but in a hundred years, I think we’ll have robots like those in the films *I, Robot* or *Wall-E*. We’ll have smart homes and machines capable of emotion.