Advanced Chatbot Could Help With Social Awkwardness

mikejuk writes "Researchers at MIT Media Lab are working on an automated personal-computer-based system designed to help people improve interpersonal and conversational skills. The software is called MACH, short for My Automated Conversation coacH (pdf). It makes use of a computer-generated onscreen face to simulate interactive conversations. It performs facial, speech, and behavior analysis and synthesis to emulate human-to-human responses. At the end of the session it provides the user with feedback on their performance. Using a webcam the program can analyze facial expressions, including smiling and head gestures while its voice recognition system analyzes not only what you say but also how you say it and notes non-verbal vocalizations. As feedback you watch the video side-by-side with the analysis of your behavior — see the video of it in action. It has already been shown to improve job interview techniques and other potential uses are coaching in public speaking and dating."

Re:Vocabulary

[multiben]

A dictionary?! You use a dictionary for improving your interpersonal communication? Perhaps chatbot is exactly what you need.

Re:Get off the internet and talk to girls

[Anonymous Coward]

Talking to girls is only possible if the girls also want to talk to you. Which is only the case if you already have sufficient interpersonal and conversational skills.

It's like with learning a language. If you are sufficiently fluent in a foreign language, it helps a lot to talk to native speakers of that language to improve your language skills. However if you don't understand the language at all, talking to a native speaker is simply not possible.