SXSW 2017: Artificial Intelligence Should Empathize, Not Just Understand

So a big theme at the SXSW conference last month was artificial intelligence, or how to use AI to make better products and services. One of the speakers at this year’s event, Sophie Kleber an Executive Director of Product and Innovation from the New York digital marketing firm Huge — brought up a really good point: It’s not enough that an AI provide just answers or a service, it must also know how to interact with the user with a certain amount of empathy, or even emotional intelligence. She pointed out a human unconsciously forms a relationship with who, or what, they are conversing with. We spoke with Kleber to understand how AI-driven conversational services such as Amazon’s Alexa, can be customized to pick up cues of the user’s emotional state, in order to better understand and serve that customer.

Topics

1:07: About Kleber’s SXSW talk artificial intelligence and machine learning.
2:02: Huge’s introduction to AI.
7:37: What Huge is looking for in AI at a product or technology level?
9:09: How AI can b used to get a client’s message across.
12:12: On being specific about intentions.
13:51: On machine learning.
20:18: AI and empathy.
24:05: The predominance of men working in AI.
25:38: Easy wins for companies that want to work in AI.

Sponsor Note

Capital One is reimagining the way people use money and creating new ways for people to use credit wisely, save and invest for the future and through digital and mobile, we are making transactions simpler and managing money easier so our customers can focus on what matters to them.

Capital One sponsored this podcast.

The post SXSW 2017: Artificial Intelligence Should Empathize, Not Just Understand appeared first on The New Stack.