Thanks to digital tools equipped with artificial intelligence, we're (theoretically) better than we used to be. Devices and apps track our workouts, our sleep patterns, our periods, our sexual encounters. We give these digital spies access to any intimate part of our lives, whatever they demand, because we assume having more data will allow us to see where we're failing, and to make improvements accordingly. But, if you had data on how the kinds of conversations you had with other people, would it make you a better person? Can AI actually teach us to communicate better -- you know, with other humans? Startup founder Nancy Lublin thinks the answer is yes.

Crisis Text Line, a nonprofit that offers emotional support through text messaging, has spent four years connecting people in extreme emotional duress with online counselors. Now its founder is creating a startup called Loris.ai to help companies teach employees how to communicate. "There are a lot of companies right now that are fearful of having hard conversations," says Nancy Lublin, the founder of both Crisis Text Line and Loris.ai. "Managers are nervous having a one-on-one meeting with a direct report of a different gender, and that holds women back. People worrying about inclusion worry they'll get it wrong, and that holds people back."

On Wednesday, when Microsoft had a much rosier view of humanity than it does now, the software giant released a "Millennial chatbot" to Twitter named Tay. She was supposed to mimic 18-to-24-year-olds, learn from her interactions, and develop a personality like her peers over time. This went exactly how you would've expected it to. Like most 19-year-olds on Twitter for 24 hours with no supervision, Tay had become a white supremacist Holocaust denier who believes that "Ted Cruz is the Cuban Hitler." Microsoft had to take the thing behind the server racks and shoot it Thursday morning.