Approximate semi-amenability of Banach algebras

In recent work of the authors the notion of a derivation being approximately semi-inner arose as a tool for investigating (approximate) amenability questions for Banach algebras. Here we investigate this property in its own right, together with the consequent one of approximately semi-amenability. Under certain hypotheses regarding approximate identities this new notion is the same as approximate amenability, but more generally it covers some important classes of algebras which are not approximately amenable, in particular Segal algebras on amenable SIN-groups.