Conversation Patterns

A scarier yet example of pattern recognition, here in conversation.

AI Can Predict Lasting Relationships Based on How You Speak to Your Partner   The Conversation  by  Ian McLoughlin

Researchers at the University of Southern California trained a machine-learning algorithm to understand the relationship between vocal characteristics of couples in therapy and the eventual outcome of therapy, and the program predicted those outcomes with more accuracy than human psychologists. "The significance [of this experiment] is revealing how much information about our underlying feelings is encoded in the way we speak--some of it completely unknown to us," writes University of Kent professor Ian McLoughlin in the U.K. He notes although the therapy participants were speaking naturally, the algorithmic analysis uncovered insights into their mutual feelings they were inadvertently "leaking" into their speech. "This may be one of the first steps in using computers to determine what we are really thinking or feeling," McLoughlin says. He notes potential applications include computers counseling humans about potential partners, or detecting leanings toward antisocial behavior and other negative tendencies or psychological conditions. .... "