Amazon Wants Its Devices To Understand Your Emotions

Get ready for computers that understand how you're feeling. Amazon is working on new ways for its "Alexa" assistant to identify and respond to your emotions, a report from the MIT Technology Review said Monday. The artificially intelligent helper, which lives in devices like Amazon's Echo and Tap speakers, could soon "recognize the emotional tenor of your voice" and tweak its behavior accordingly" -- meaning, for example, that the device could know when you're ticked off and adapt its own tone accordingly. That's a pretty big deal for one reason: Humans have had to adapt to the needs of computers since they were first invented. To use a desktop computer, you had to learn how to navigate an on-screen cursor with a mouse, double-click icons to launch programs and type commands with a keyboard. We "get" them because we've used computers for so long, but there's nothing natural about tapping app icons or using your fingers to enter a web address on a mobile browser.