Building bots with empathy requires finding the right balance - Watson

I've been talking with the cognitive behavioral therapist chatbot known as Woebot a lot recently, and it's a little like talking to my mother. Not because of the whimsical anecdotes and GIFs the bot dispenses--that's not her style--but because of all the practical reminders to get out of my own way. Like the sensible woman who raised me, Woebot isn't big on protracted whinging or solicitations for pity, and its dogged optimism occasionally rubs me the wrong way. But they are both mostly right, my mom and the bot. More importantly, where a dose of practicality would do a person good, they are mostly helpful.