Bad With Social Cues? MIT Researchers Built A Wearable For You

It's not always easy to interpret what people are saying. If you're particularly bad with social cues, you might find the help you need in the future with a wearable. According to researchers from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and Institute of Medical Engineering and Science, the wearable features an artificially intelligent system capable of predicting if a conversation is sad, happy, or neutral based on an individual's vitals and speech patterns. Tuka Alhanai and Mohammad Ghassemi detailed their research in a paper [PDF] they will be presenting at the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence's conference in San Francisco next week. According to Alhanai, it might not be long before people can have AI social coaches in their pocket, but they believe their wearable is the first experiment to collect both physical and speech data in a passive yet robust manner, even while subjects are engaged in natural interactions.