A social robot can deliver a motivational interview

New research, from the University of Plymouth, U.K., indicates that a social robot can deliver a'helpful' and'enjoyable' motivational interview. This artificial intelligence equipped machine could be used to help counsel humans with a wide variety of problems, supplanting psychologists across a number of areas. Of course the use of a machine in place of a qualified psychologist remains many years away and even when the technology reaches an acceptable level of competency, revealing all to a machine may not be to everyone's taste. Nonetheless, the advances made in a recent study show how close artificial intelligence is coming to offering a counseling service. The focus has been on the "motivational interview".