Ah, but that's not simulating emotion, it's simulating the appearance of emotion. Big difference!
If we were going that route, I'd rather an AI actually feel empathy, rather than just being able to look like they do... Because faking it is pretty much textbook psycho!
Edit: Just to clarify, when I say AI, I'm referring to strong AI, not anything that we have now (or are even close to getting).
Well, yes. The Chinese Room claims that there is a gulf between being able to pass a Chinese Turing test versus being able to actually understand Chinese and have intentionality.
Unlike intentionality, however, emotions aren't just for show: I act differently, depending on my emotions. For example, when I'm angry, I sometimes act irrationally. My actions, therefore, depend on my emotions. To program emotions (anger), and their effects (irrationality) is difficult (how do you program irrationality?).
For example, the robot your GP linked to is different from other robots because it has "obvious emotional expressions". These emotional expressions probably don't translate in to different behaviors; when the robot has an angry expression, it's not going to hit the child it's playing with, it's just going to display an angry face.
So, yes, there is a difference between ersatz emotions and real emotions. That's why the Chinese Room argument isn't quite a parallel. For the Chinese Room, it's hard to tell whether or not the computer has intentionality just by speaking to it; for an emotional robot which acts, it's easy to tell whether or not it has actual emotions.
I don't find the Chinese room argument convincing in the least. After all, it's the software that does the understanding, not the hardware. Otherwise, it would be like asking my fingers to understand this comment, or even asking my brain, when it's really my mind that's understanding.
Speaking of rationality, it's probably safe to say that you will end with a sometimes irrational program no matter what you do. Neural networks have glitches, configuration spaces have local minimae, software has bugs. It's as if you saw AI as being "programmed" via a series of rules, when it's more a grow process, arising from probabilistic dumb agents. Even if these agents were to be rational, the system could become irrational: I refer to the current economic crisis.
If we were going that route, I'd rather an AI actually feel empathy, rather than just being able to look like they do... Because faking it is pretty much textbook psycho!
Edit: Just to clarify, when I say AI, I'm referring to strong AI, not anything that we have now (or are even close to getting).