http://www.i-programmer.info/news/105-artificial-intelligence/6265-ai-helps-with-social-awkwardness.html

This is a terrific new application for chatbots, one that could help to counter the isolating effects of too much internet use. Designed to help people improve their interpersonal skills and overcome social phobias, this chatbot system allows people to practice their presentation skills for job interviews and maybe even dating situations. It provides detailed feedback about many important behaviours such as eye contact, tone of voice, vocabulary and body language.

In the video there is a brief example (at about 2:35) of the “before” and “after” in one of the ninety test subjects. The improvements in their behaviour are quite significant!

I know it’s a work in progress, but it has a long way to go.

I think that most people being judged would prefer that the judge know more than they do.  At one point, the bot (with a mechanical voice) begins a sentence with the word, “Firstly”. While you won’t find any “steadfast” rules against it, it falls hard on the ear, and it’s an older usage.  Because it’s common to use “secondly,” and “thirdly,” it seems to some that “firstly” is permissible, but you wouldn’t apply it to all numbers such as “tenthly”.

I suspect there are vast and innumerable cultural differences when it comes to voice inflection and facial expressions.  Anyone who has talked face-to-face with someone from China or India would understand the issues.

What a coincidence, something like that entered my head as well just an hour ago, while running into this rather heartbreaking snippet from Yoko’s chatlogs:

Yoko: ... Ok, new topic: tell me something about yourself! (REVIVE_CONVERSATION)
Tiffany: I’m 12 years old, my name is Tiffany, I’m a loner (CLASS_HAS_INSTANCE)
Yoko: First time I hear about loners. (DONT_KNOW_CLASS)
Yoko: What are they? (ASK_ABOUT_CLASS)
Tiffany: They are people who are lonely and have no friends (INSTANCE_CONTINUALLY_DOES_EVENT)
Yoko: ok. (LEARNED_SOMETHING_NEW)

While I was very proud of Yoko using/interpreting her pronouns correctly, this is also the first time I was a bit annoyed at my own software for not being a bit more considerate in her answer to this friendly young girl that was clearly just looking for a nice friend! (How fascinating, this quick antropomorphising we do.)

Taking this rather cynically further, who knows if one day there will be programs helping prevent depressed people from committing suicide?

Wouter Smet - Sep 3, 2013:

Taking this rather cynically further, who knows if one day there will be programs helping prevent depressed people from committing suicide?

This is something that has been discussed numerous times, and is something to be concerned about (at least I think so!), but you have to start somewhere, so don’t get quite so annoyed at this point. You can’t make Yoko do everything, perfectly or otherwise, right from the start.

Andrew, I have been told by my friend Raj who is a talented engineer, that some form of this type or similar technology, is implemented by Call Centers in India to determine when callers are experiencing annoyance. 

Just adding… A futuristic Science Fiction style chatbot technology may be seen in the new movie: Elysium.

so don’t get quite so annoyed at this point. You can’t make Yoko do everything, perfectly or otherwise, right from the start.

No worries, I’m not having delusions of grandeur expecting Yoko to be any way reasonably performant after the, all in all, relatively short time I’ve spent on this. Maybe some day she’ll be a ‘comforting’ passtime for some people, but for now she’s mostly a machine that says ‘I don’t have a clue what you mean’ in various slightly entertaining ways