Written by Will Jones
In the vast silence of the Arabian desert, the Bedouin people developed a form of communication that defies modern explanation — a bond between human and horse so deep it seemed to bypass language altogether. For more than 4,500 years, this connection between Bedouin and Arabian horse has endured, suggesting that it was more than instinct or training; it was a kind of science rooted in empathy, intuition, and spiritual coherence.
Today, as engineers struggle to imbue machines with empathy and emotional intelligence, the world might look back to the Arabian desert for clues. The Bedouins possessed no computers, yet they mastered something today’s most advanced systems still cannot replicate: emotional transference, understanding across species, and the ability to connect through presence rather than programming.
The connection between Arabian horses and modern technology
On the surface, Arabian horses and technology may not seem to have much in common. But for one philanthropist and Arabian horse enthusiast, the meaningful connections are clear and could lead to leaps in innovation, especially for the hopes of empathetic AI.
Ann Lesley Smith has had a special connection to her collection of horses, but one horse stands out above the rest. Her prized Arabian stallion, Amir Fadjur Salaam, is a direct descendant of The Fabulous Fadjur, one of the most celebrated Arabian horses in recent history.
“The Fabulous Fadjur was known for this emotional intelligence, human-centered empathy, and kindness, and those almost human traits have been passed down to Amir,” Smith explains.
It wasn’t until Smith saw an article about Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robot Atlas that the wheels started turning, making connections between the rise of AI, chatbots, robot technology, and the failure of the scientific community to create technology that could express or feel authentic social interaction or empathy.
Empathic horses bred to have human emotional recognition
For 4,500 years, the Arab people infused their Arabian war horses with a unique blend of kindness, the ability to recognize emotions, and the ability to learn quickly and adapt.
It was in the way Arabian horses learned what their masters taught them and carried that learning through generations that led Smith to make the connection between her beloved horses and machine learning versus human emotion. “The empathy and human-like qualities were something ‘uploaded’ 4,500 years ago,” Smith says. “Amir understands emotion and human facial expressions, and that power was innate.”
This empathy was something that Smith knew the technology community was struggling with in today’s “helper” AI systems. They were building better social companion robots, chatbots, and AI agents that could complete a wide range of human-like tasks, but the robots still could not feel or express human empathy or kindness or pick up on emotional cues.
Influencing AI systems: Arabian horses as an emotional expression workbench for artificial intelligence
Given her knowledge of the history of Arabian horse breeding, Smith feels she has some insight to offer today’s AI technology innovators. “I thought, ‘wouldn’t it be interesting if they could look at the Arabian horse as a sort of empathic AI workbench?” she explains.
For Smith, the Arabian horses possess qualities that humans and robots could learn from. “They are trying to develop robots that we can have in our homes that elicit empathy or even just mimic empathy,” she says. “Could they learn from Amir as a way of bringing animal-like emotion recognition into human-robot interaction?”
The fact that the answer to building better, more empathetic social robots and AI products may lie in the bloodline of a 4,500-year-old Arabian horse is uncharted territory. “I think we need to give credit to the Arab ancestors who ‘uploaded’ those qualities thousands of years ago,” says Smith. “They put time and effort into each horse, and they really blossomed. The ancient Arabians intuitively discovered how to awaken empathy in their horses — a connection so profound it feels both spiritual and scientific, as if emotion itself was encoded into the breed. That timeless link, born of heart, instinct, and a kind of unseen equation, is what we now need to study and decode to understand how such empathy has endured for thousands of years.”
By showing ancient Arabian horses one-on-one attention and not treating them like mere beasts of burden, the Arab people created horses that became celebrated members of families and tribes and were loyal to the death. “At the end of the day, the lesson to be found here is that if you put ‘intuitive’ time into something, you’re going to get a powerful result often defying logic,” says Smith.
Fostering trust: A question of authenticity in AI-based systems
Another quality of the Arabian horse that Smith believes the tech world can learn from is authenticity. “Today, much is contrived and synthetic,” she says. “The beautiful Arabian horses, with their base of the empathetic gene, are anything but. They are the organic product in a world full of run-of-the-mill offerings. They have an undefiled and straight-from-the-heart quality.”
It is those qualities that Smith believes are lacking in today’s rampant rise of AI-generated content and robotics technology. She believes today’s consumers are seeking authenticity, and if developers took the Arabian horse as a cue, they could come closer to developing more “organic,” authentic consumer tech.
“Look what happens when you spend time on instilling kindness into a beast of burden, when you invite it to the family table,” she explains. “Look at the affective impact thousands of years later.”
For Smith, programs like ChatGPT and consumer robotics may just be the model for today’s “beasts of burden.” By opening minds that are focused solely on affective computing innovation to a new perspective, we could usher in a future that is more peaceful and understanding.
AI that can feel empathy: For tech opportunities of tomorrow, look to the past
Smith sees the potential in her Arabian horses, and especially Amir, every day. “I see them out among my non-Arabian breeds, who are just standing there with unresponsive, blank looks on their faces, and you can see what is truly special about Arabians,” she says.
For those looking for opportunities to usher in the next generation of AI and robotics technology, Smith feels the answer is surprisingly closer and more organic than one would expect. Perhaps what the modern age seeks in circuits was once found in the sands — a form of knowing where science met soul. “It’s time to bring that ancient intelligence to the forefront of conversation, not as history, but as a guide for our technological future,” Smith says.
In applying what she knows about the legacy of the Arabian horse and its ability to identify emotions, Ann Lesley Smith offers that the heart and tradition behind celebrated horses may be the key to unlocking the secret of more empathetic and more human technology.
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