New artificial intelligence (AI) technologies currently in development could lead to an imminent future where machines no longer just process and analyse information, but can ‘feel’.
In his new book Perceptive Machines, futurologist and researcher Professor Rocky Scopelliti outlines a near future in which machines are capable of sensing, interpreting and responding to the world in ways once considered unique to humans and other biological species: including sight, sound, touch, smell and taste.
“We are moving beyond artificial intelligence that thinks,” says Professor Scopelliti.
“We are entering an era of intelligence that perceives.”
Human benefits to new tech
Early applications of these new technologies focus on restoring lost senses.
Advances in cross-modal AI are enabling sound to be translated into touch, light or motion, allowing deaf people to “hear” through alternative sensory pathways. Retinal and neural implants are progressing toward restoring visual perception for the blind. Haptic technologies are enabling people to physically interact across distance, simulating touch in real time.
Technologies for all of these is being developed as we speak.
Emerging technologies, including digital olfaction (or ‘e-noses’), synthetic taste systems (or ‘e-tongues’), and affective AI, are transforming sensory experience into data that can be captured, analysed and reproduced – allowing machines to mimic human experiences of ‘smell’ and ‘taste’.
This means that, for the first time, sensory perception has become programmable.
“For the first time in history, our senses are no longer confined to biology,” Professor Scopelliti says. “They can be synthetic, digitised, transmitted, and re-engineered.”
Changing human interactions with reality
Despite the possible benefits, Professor Scopelliti warns there are serious risks posed by machines capable of perception, including unprecedented threats to privacy, and the dawn of sensory manipulation.
“Whoever controls what we sense, controls the gateway to what we believe,” Professor Scopelliti warns. “And that makes perception the next frontier of power.”
Privacy and ethics are entering uncharted territory, says Professor Scopelliti. In this new world, scents and tastes can be digitally reproduced and enhanced beyond human sensory limitations. Sensory and emotional data, he warns, raises urgent questions about ownership, consent and manipulation at an intensely personal level.
Data ownership and privacy
If machines begin to interpret and shape sensory input, a new layer of interpretation and information forms between the physical world and how humans experience it.
AI systems can already infer emotional states through voice, facial expression and physiological signals. In the near future, wearable and ambient systems may detect subtle shifts in mood, attention, and intention, often without explicit user awareness.
These capabilities open the door to powerful applications across healthcare, education and human performance. A teacher may sense disengagement in real time. A clinician may detect early signs of mental distress. A workplace system may adapt environments to reduce cognitive overload.
But they also introduce unprecedented risks.
Unlike traditional data, sensory and emotional signals are deeply personal, often involuntary, continuous and difficult to conceal.
“As these signals are captured and analysed, new questions emerge – who owns your emotional state? Can your reactions be predicted, and influenced, without your knowledge? What happens when environments adapt to shape your behaviour in real time?” Professor Scopelliti asks.
Professor Scopelliti points to scenarios where AI systems could track micro-reactions, changes in voice, skin conductance, or movement, to personalise content, optimise persuasion or influence decision-making.
Legal and ethical protections
Professor Scopelliti warns us about the dark side of relinquishing our senses to the digital realm, and argues that society must move quickly to establish new ethical and legal frameworks.
He introduces the concept of perceptual rights, the idea that individuals must retain sovereignty over how they experience reality.
“The right to perceive – to see what is real, to feel what is true – is not a luxury,” he says.
“It is the foundation of humanity in free societies.”
Without clear boundaries and checks and balances, the risk is not simply data misuse, but sensory manipulation: environments, interfaces, and systems designed to shape perception itself.
“We once built machines to extend our physical capabilities,” Professor Scopelliti says.
“Now we are building systems that extend, and potentially redefine, our senses.”