Emotional intelligence (EI) —the capacity to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions effectively—has traditionally been regarded as a human domain rooted in social cognition and self-awareness. A recent study published in Nature’s Communications Psychology reveals that advanced large language models (LLMs), when evaluated on standardised human EI measures, not only perform at a high level but also generate test items with psychometric rigour comparable to those created by human experts. This development indicates a significant shift in how artificial intelligence engages with affective reasoning and social understanding.