Erica, which was launched in 2018, garnered 1 billion client interactions and has helped 32 million users. Bank of America expects Erica, early next year, to connect clients to banking agents regarding new products and services, such as mortgages, credit cards and deposit accounts. The pandemic saw a growing number of older customers use digital banking tools, including Erica, Gopalkrishnan said. The bank now wants to build on enhanced adoption by improving the flow of transactions, including the seamless handoff from Erica to human agents and vice versa. "We realized, at some point, people go, 'I'm done with that chat, I need to talk to a human,'" Gopalkrishnan said.

The researchers hoped to use their system to improve natural conversations between robots and people. To foster empathy in conversation, scientists at Kyoto University developed a shared-laughter AI system that reacts properly to human laughter. What makes something hilarious has baffled philosophers and scientists since at least the time of inquiring minds like Plato. The Greeks believed that feeling superior at others' expense was the source of humor. Sigmund Freud, a German psychologist, thought humor was a means to let off pent-up energy.

Fargo represents the next step in Wells Fargo's digital transformation, which began last year with the announcement of a 10-year plan to modernize its cloud infrastructure with Microsoft and Google. A statement Monday from the 170-year-old bank said it plans to "become digital-first and reinvent personal finance." "This partnership will expand our customers' digital financial support network by enabling meaningful money conversations conveniently from their mobile device," said Michelle Moore, Wells Fargo's head of digital. "It's more than just dollars and cents; it's about uplifting our customers' emotional and financial well-being by understanding their financial goals and providing the most convenient interactions to meet those goals." Fargo will use Dialogflow, Google's conversational AI platform, to allow the virtual assistant to provide a tailored response to customers based on their intent, according to Monday's announcement.

Laughter comes in many forms, from a polite chuckle to a contagious howl of mirth. Scientists are now developing an AI system that aims to recreate these nuances of humour by laughing in the right way at the right time. The team behind the laughing robot, which is called Erica, say that the system could improve natural conversations between people and AI systems. "We think that one of the important functions of conversational AI is empathy," said Dr Koji Inoue, of Kyoto University, the lead author of the research, published in Frontiers in Robotics and AI. "So we decided that one way a robot can empathise with users is to share their laughter."

Summary: Researchers have designed a shared-laughter AI system that responds to human laughter in order to build a sense of empathy into dialogue. Since at least the time of inquiring minds like Plato, philosophers and scientists have puzzled over the question, "What's so funny?" The Greeks attributed the source of humor to feeling superior at the expense of others. German psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud believed humor was a way to release pent-up energy. US comedian Robin Williams tapped his anger at the absurd to make people laugh.

Laughter is a nonverbal vocal expression that plays an important role in social situations and transcends cultural boundaries. Artificial intelligence (AI) machine learning is rapidly being explored as a powerful tool to enable robots to interact with humans for a variety of purposes. A new study published in Frontiers in Robotics and AI unveils a shared laughter generation AI system that enables a robot to share a laugh with a human for greater perceived empathetic conversational interaction. "We propose that our system can be used for situated robot interaction and also emphasize the need for integrating proper empathetic laughs into conversational robots and agents," wrote the lead author Dr. Koji Inoue, Assistant Professor at Kyoto University, along with his research colleagues. The three AI models that comprise the solution were a laugh detector, a shared laughter predictor, and a laugh type selector.

Anyone who's shared a laugh with a friend knows how deeply bonding humor can be, so it stands to reason our future robot companions have a better chance of winning our trust and affection if they can laugh with us. But just because a robot tells jokes doesn't mean it can respond to them appropriately. Did a comment warrant a polite robot giggle or an all-out bot belly laugh? The right response could mean the difference between an approachable android and a metallic boor. That's why Japanese researchers are attempting to teach humorless robot nerds to laugh at the right time and in the right way.

Laughter comes in many forms, from a polite chuckle to a contagious howl of mirth. Scientists are now developing an AI system that aims to recreate these nuances of humour by laughing in the right way at the right time. The team behind the laughing robot, which is called Erica, say that the system could improve natural conversations between people and AI systems. "We think that one of the important functions of conversational AI is empathy," said Dr Koji Inoue, of Kyoto University, the lead author of the research, published in Frontiers in Robotics and AI. "So we decided that one way a robot can empathise with users is to share their laughter."

Robots are famously cold, hard and unfeeling, so they may not be the greatest audience for your favourite knock-knock joke. However, scientists in Japan are looking to change their reputation, by teaching them when and how to laugh using artificial intelligence (AI). The researchers created an android, named'Erica', which they trained to detect laughter in conversation, then decide whether to laugh in response and what kind of laughter would be best. Her conversations and chuckles were then watched by volunteers, who decided that her responses demonstrated empathy and human-likeness. Lead author Dr Koji Inoue, from Kyoto University, said: 'We think that one of the important functions of conversational AI is empathy.

Laughter comes in many forms, from a polite chuckle to a contagious howl of mirth. Scientists are now developing an AI system that aims to recreate these nuances of humour by laughing in the right way at the right time. The team behind the laughing robot, which is called Erica, say that the system could improve natural conversations between people and AI systems. "We think that one of the important functions of conversational AI is empathy," said Dr Koji Inoue, of Kyoto University, the lead author of the research. "So we decided that one way a robot can empathise with users is to share their laughter."