7 ms·

AI-powered communication coach

135 points by lhuser123 4y ago

hhw3h 4y ago
Looks like an interesting tool from the landing page. When I tried to create an account with Google it asked for fairly expansive permissions: - See and download any calendar you can access using your Google Calendar - See, edit, share, and permanently delete all the calendars you can access using Google Calendar Are all these needed? Why would you need to delete a calendar from my account?
- squeaky-clean 4y ago
  When permissions are grouped together like that by bullet, it's usually because Google's API only has 1 scope that covers all those actions (per bullet). My guess is they want to create new events on your calendar? Looking at the Google Calendar API, it seems like if you want to grant an app the ability to add new events, you need to give permission to view all events and delete events as well. https://developers.google.com/calendar/api/v3/reference/acl/insert https://developers.google.com/calendar/api/v3/reference/acl/... https://developers.google.com/identity/protocols/oauth2/scopes https://developers.google.com/identity/protocols/oauth2/scop... So it's kind Google's fault for that. Still that's a lot of permissions to request, I'd be uncomfortable even letting them have the ability to add or view events. Does it have a way to work if you don't allow it access to Google Calendar?
  - TrainedMonkey 4y ago
    I think all apps seeing all events is a usability thing. When you try to double schedule something every app can tell you about the conflict.
  - andy_ppp 4y ago
    I would much rather companies just provide a Webcal link rather than mess with my calendar through an API...
- armed10 4y ago
  I simply declined the permission and it still made the account. Seems like only calendar integration is not set up because of it.
- fumblebee 4y ago
  While I agree that the permissions seem over and above what's necessary, there's a trivial solution available that I've been using for many years: create a Google account (or several!) that's exclusively used for _untrusted_ services. Would you really care if this - or any - app has access to an empty calendar, can access its empty Drive, or ends up adding an irrelevant email address to a spam list? (By the way, it's not lost on me that you probably already do have such a setup, it's just, I know far too many folks who don't!)
ranieuwe 4y ago
This seems to focus a lot on the word usage too, which is useful. Would be great if this combined with PowerPoint Online with Speaker Coach somehow. Then both deck, pace, clarity and word use are addressed. PowerPoint does some of it, but not to the depth that this seems to do it.
orbital-decay 4y ago
>The best part? No one else knows you’re using it. Right. Soon, everybody will just assume you're using one, without knowing.
joshka 4y ago
I need this, but would only ever want to run a local only version.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
mr-pink 4y ago
if we're going to a world of AI everywhere, why do I need to become a robot myself?
- thegayretard69 4y ago
  so you can fit in
  - 6stringmerc 4y ago
    Relevant from 16 years ago: https://youtu.be/UW2_3rvNUL8 https://youtu.be/UW2_3rvNUL8
kirykl 4y ago
Or you could hire or ask any random person to give feedback, that at least is a human
- josephjrobison 4y ago
  Honestly if you’re not a confident public speaker you may also be embarrassed in front of family / friends / colleagues, so I see this AI as a great bridge to get over that initial hump. Then yes, do it in front of a human at some point too.
raphar 4y ago
I don't say that this is the case, but it's a question of time that your videos/audios end up used in a questionable way because you trusted a service similar to the one described here.
behnamoh 4y ago
I'm an introvert and often shy away from talking to strangers. But interestingly, I've always been pretty good at public presentations. I've received multiple compliments after my presentations. I'm often really confident when presenting my slides. Part of it is because I spend so much time creating content (slides) and in the process, I come up with creative ways to explain different things. I also tend to walk a bit during my talks and make eye contact with the audience and use my hands a lot. I wish I could be like that all the time so that people could see the real potential and enthusiasm in me, but unfortunately I'm mostly reserved and don't initiate conversations especially with strangers. Aside from love life, it affects my professional life as well—lots of professors thought of me as a low-profile, shy student, but sometimes they'd get a glimpse of what I could be during my presentations and changed their mind. Recently I started to start having some conversations with people I don't know and man, it feels great! I feel more confident just by talking to and asking peoples' names in the building. I guess the key is that I don't expect these convos to go anywhere. When you're introvert, the circle of friends is so small that people have so much value/influence on you. When you broaden your scope, you start to see other people as points on a sphere—as their value (being special) decreases, so does the fear of saying the wrong thing to them, so you are more likely to start conversations and have fun and see where things go instead of stressing over what you should say and whether they will be offended or not.
- niek_pas 4y ago
  You sound like me, 5 years ago, at age 21. I only realized I am actually an extroverted person a few months ago.
  - 6stringmerc 4y ago
    You can be both! I score as both INTJ and ENTJ depending on the day and my mood.
    - hackerlight 4y ago
      It sounds like you're an ambivert. MBTI forces you into either the introvert or extrovert category by design, even though the trait is a spectrum.
metaph6 4y ago
That's one of the rare moments that I abhor what AI might bring out us humans...
- andywood 4y ago
  For me that moment is every time I read anything new about AI. Luddite life!
sshumaker 4y ago
In a leadership role. I would love this - particularly to help make me aware of when I should be holding more space for others. But the fact that the meeting data (audio/video) gets transmitted to a third party is a complete deal killer.
philosopher1234 4y ago
I really detest the idea that there is a correct way to speak. Speaking is communicating, it is the fundamental way you develop relationships with others. Public speaking is no different, just more people. Is there a correct way to be friends? No. And there is not a correct way to publicly speak either.
- sdenton4 4y ago
  There are, however, plenty of incorrect ways to be friends... Improving communication skills is about avoiding massive pitfalls while allowing your unique voice to develop through practice.
  - philosopher1234 4y ago
    Is saying "um" one of these massive pitfalls you're referencing?
    - undecisive 4y ago
      Surely context matters massively? "Do you even still love me?" "Umm..." "Do you think Jack deserves this promotion?" "Umm..." "Do you think this software solves the problem?" "Umm..." "Surely you realise Donald Trump is the true incarnation of the coming messiah?" "Ummmm....." Those Ummms may well be massive pitfalls. Alternatively, those ummms might accurately indicate that the entire premise of the question is dubious or flat-out false, depending on your delivery. A person who uses ummm too much may well have severe problems communicating effectively, and a tool to help them only use ummms deliberately and meaningfully might be useful. A person in a presentation may wish to give an air of humility and approachability, in which case the ummms may be helpful - or they may wish to give an air of authority and certainty, in which case that meta-message is shattered by excessive umms. Intent-based communication is subjectively valid, and one can argue that expecting and requiring perfectly honed communication might be a form of implicit bias and prejudice. I appreciate the idea that, as a societal issue, reducing our dependence on homogenised thought delivery is worth a wider conversation, but I'd say this is the wrong level from which to attack that systemic change. You don't attack scalpel manufacturers for the proliferation of plastic surgery. Yet one could argue that a communication is - objectively - only as good as the way it is received. And while the majority of your communication might not need that level of certainty, for many people practice is the only thing they require to achieve the appearance of confidence. And democratising the ability to learn that skill doesn't seem to me a bad thing.
showmypost 4y ago
This looks really exciting but I want to warn that this fulfills the following criteria: - feels to good to be free - it targets a problem that we all sense and fear when we interact with other people - the privacy and security policy is legally invalid in California and the EU (missing both is quite weird as they’re very well known privacy standards) - the email address listed inside the privacy and security policy is invalid Before trying their service I attempted to request a proper privacy policy via their listed email address which returns me an error saying that this address doesn’t exist. As Slack is listed as a company that backs this service, I just reached out to their support team to cross-check the authenticity of this new service. This is getting exciting..
- edf13 4y ago
  it’s not slack listed as a company but rather “professionals from”… > Trusted by professionals from This is a growing trend I’ve noticed - it’s a bit of a fake call to legitimacy
  - edf13 4y ago
    (It’s also virtually impossible to prove or disprove when it’s a large company!)
    - ricardobeat 4y ago
      Some companies strictly forbid using their logos in this form (I worked for one). A takedown notice is sent at first sight. It works, but makes sponsoring open source, events, etc a lot more painful due to the approvals needed.
- davidktr 4y ago
  It's pretty clear what/who the product is here ...
  - fxtentacle 4y ago
    If this was a downloadable offline app, I'd be happy to give it a try. But uploading deepfake training data into the cloud? No thanks.
nonrandomstring 4y ago
This seems the epitome of "AI applications" that ride on human weakness, insecurity and disconnection. It's an application for people who have no friends. Any other sincere and observant human being can help you be a better communicator if you feel comfortable asking them to criticise your performance.
- raffraffraff 4y ago
  The title wasn't clear, so I thought it was a tool for learning / improving in a new language (you know, pronunciation, accent etc). I wonder would it be useful in that regard? Because for me, conversational Spanish or French would be difficult because I don't interact with native speakers.
- mkmk3 4y ago
  Is this a value judgement or you're just saying? "This app rides on human weakness" sounds like negative framing at least. Because yes, if you had good observant friends, it reduces the need for this for sure. But the human weakness, insecurity and disconnection is already there, and some people have no friends and have trouble communicating well. I think it's good to be skeptical of instances of this kind of work in terms of the details like how it respects the users privacy and treats their data sensitively, and whether or not it's selling an effective method, but at least it's sort of aimed towards good. Also ad tech is the epitome of AI applications that ride on human weakness ;)
  - nonrandomstring 4y ago
    > Is this a value judgement ... sounds like negative framing at least. Yes it is a negative value judgement. I am not trolling or being unnecessarily provocative. I think that, on balance, some technologies are likely to make things worse. Not in general, but to specifically counter the very aim they set out to solve. > the human weakness, insecurity and disconnection is already there I disagree with this. On several levels. Some people have different abilities and personality for sure. But the insecurity and weakness I speak of is societal (weak interpersonal relations in a single-serving microwave meal culture), and is caused by precisely such disconnecting technologies. This kind of technology creates less incentives to develop human interpersonal skills and ultimately saps confidence. The user learns to simulate confidence. > I think it's good to be skeptical of instances of this kind of work in terms of the details like how it respects the users privacy and treats their data sensitively, and whether or not it's selling an effective method, I think it's important to be sceptical generally. That makes one a good technologist and not merely an implementor of random ideas that we do "because we can". All the things you mention are hot topics, and I agree they need scrutiny. But there are wider and more complex factors to remain sceptical of, such as the social impact of technologies. > but at least it's sort of aimed towards good. I have great faith and optimism in human beings, these things are always "aimed toward good". I make no judgements about the motives of the developers (which I think is already a few steps more charitable than some of the insinuations I've seen in comments). I'm getting down-voted because I dare to commit a heresy of asking deeper questions. > Also ad tech is the epitome of AI applications that ride on human weakness ;) That's true.
spoonjim 4y ago
If you want this functionality but not with some sketchy startup, Microsoft PowerPoint has this built in for free (not free exactly, but with whatever you pay for the Microsoft bundle of crap)
- kimburgess 4y ago
  It's also rolling out to Teams: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams-public-preview/now-in-public-preview-speaker-coach-in-microsoft-teams-meetings/m-p/3568697 https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams-publi...
yeezyseezy 4y ago
I can’t imagine many companies would allow this to be installed on company hardware.
qikInNdOutReply 4y ago
Why? Why not have my videostream analyzed and the coach synthesize a better communicating videostream? Cut out the feeble middle men and let the machines negotiate with a shopping list of interests ? I dont want to be socially ept, cunning and able, if a machine can do that for me.
- nonrandomstring 4y ago
  > let the machines negotiate I think you're on the money as to where that's headed. However, your understanding of technology seems to be entirely as weapons to gain advantage over others. Is that a fair observation? Might technology have other uses?
  - qikInNdOutReply 4y ago
    Thats what nature is. State copying itself until it runs out of matter and energy and starts to copy itself over other stateful creatures. Gras vs flower, flower vs tree, savannah vs forrest, animals for whichever ecosystem feeds them. Why should be a social apex predator be a inherent save role in human society? Nothing of value there, that cant be reproduced by machines.
    - nonrandomstring 4y ago
      Sounds like Conway's "Game of Life". Outside that imaginary petri dish, that two dimensional model of existence, and ignoring Rousseau, Kierkegaard, 3-5000 years of human religious thought, then your question makes sense; > Why should be a social apex predator be a inherent s(l)ave role in human society? If you truly believe what you say about "nature" it becomes; Why would a social apex predator, knowing the love of Jesus, the insights of Einstein, Penrose, Hofstadter, being a greater warrior-poet than Colonel Kurtz, then create and unleash another more potent agent than itself (ostensibly for amusement)? Three possibilities come to my mind. - Hubris - Self-loathing/suicide - Extraordinary stupidity (misjudgement of our own intelligence) Do you have a preference?
  - trention 4y ago
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
andywood 4y ago
Imagine being so [insert your own term] that a robot is qualified to teach you to communicate better with humans.
- sideshowb 4y ago
  Robot says you're coming across as judgemental ;-)
thih9 4y ago
Judging from the comments, looks like there is demand for zero knowledge speech and video processing.
farleykr 4y ago
I cannot over emphasize how much I don’t want a computer teaching me to talk. The only reason this is a problem is that we’re relying on computers for communication too much in the first place.
- dvngnt_ 4y ago
  I don't understand this. The only reason this is a problem is because we rely on computers for communication too much. So the issue is less the service and more the fact that we live in a world with a lot of texting applications and emails being sent? I would understand if you're claiming that it would make us speak more "robotic"
  - farleykr 4y ago
    Fair enough. My point is that any time spent communicating in texts, emails, chat apps, etc. diminishes your ability to communicate in meaningful ways. Electronic communication is incapable of fulfilling the requirements for effective communication to take place. At best it’s useful for one off exchanges of information. Or it takes a long time to craft a well thought out piece of writing, which the vast majority of us are not doing. We think we can just substitute a Zoom call for an in person meeting. This is brought on by the fact that we think the internet is a solution to problems in and of itself instead of just a tool. Asking the internet to in turn teach us how to talk only makes the problem worse. Doing the work of spending time with people in real life is the best possible solution for learning how to communicate meaningfully and effectively. We can’t offload all our problems to AI. We’re just creating different problems. Case and point: this comment thread, while giving us the ability to transfer sterile information is devoid of all the nuance of an in person conversation.
hackerlight 4y ago
Can we have something like this for text?
- bradhilton 4y ago
  Check out the Hemingway Editor: https://hemingwayapp.com https://hemingwayapp.com
giantg2 4y ago
Do they have a version of this for couples communication?
BrainVirus 4y ago
- theGnuMe 4y ago
  Well we are only a few iterations away from actual AIs doing customer service anyway.
citilife 4y ago
Seems similar to https://www.read.ai/ https://www.read.ai/ or https://otter.ai/ https://otter.ai/ in terms of functionality, but focused more on individuals. Read.ai focuses more on cutting down meetings and provides recommendations to reduce workload (which includes improving communication). Read works on meet, zoom, teams or webex and just joins the meetings as a bot. Otter.ai focuses on transcription and making notes very accessible and searchable. From the demo poised seems to require you to use their video chat, I'm not sure how I feel about that. It's a commodity, but seems like it would be hard to get people to switch to and trust. I recall zoom had several trust issues in the past (related to routing to China). Most companies don't want their interviews logged for liability reasons.
bboylen 4y ago
I'm curious how many people would be helped by real time critical feedback while speaking in public. For people who are already anxious about speaking, I could see the negative feedback causing a downwards spiral of making them even more anxious.
NIL8 4y ago
Politicians and public figures could use something like this for interviews or taking questions on the podium to tweak their speeches in real-time to sound more legit. An antidote for this would be an OSS alternative for the rest of us to identify dishonesty/inconsistencies and fact-check in real-time.

135 points by lhuser123 4y ago

Looks like an interesting tool from the landing page. When I tried to create an account with Google it asked for fairly expansive permissions: - See and download any calendar you can access using your Google Calendar - See, edit, share, and permanently delete all the calendars you can access using Google Calendar Are all these needed? Why would you need to delete a calendar from my account?

squeaky-clean 4y ago
When permissions are grouped together like that by bullet, it's usually because Google's API only has 1 scope that covers all those actions (per bullet). My guess is they want to create new events on your calendar? Looking at the Google Calendar API, it seems like if you want to grant an app the ability to add new events, you need to give permission to view all events and delete events as well. https://developers.google.com/calendar/api/v3/reference/acl/insert https://developers.google.com/calendar/api/v3/reference/acl/... https://developers.google.com/identity/protocols/oauth2/scopes https://developers.google.com/identity/protocols/oauth2/scop... So it's kind Google's fault for that. Still that's a lot of permissions to request, I'd be uncomfortable even letting them have the ability to add or view events. Does it have a way to work if you don't allow it access to Google Calendar?
- TrainedMonkey 4y ago
  I think all apps seeing all events is a usability thing. When you try to double schedule something every app can tell you about the conflict.
- andy_ppp 4y ago
  I would much rather companies just provide a Webcal link rather than mess with my calendar through an API...
armed10 4y ago
I simply declined the permission and it still made the account. Seems like only calendar integration is not set up because of it.
fumblebee 4y ago
While I agree that the permissions seem over and above what's necessary, there's a trivial solution available that I've been using for many years: create a Google account (or several!) that's exclusively used for _untrusted_ services. Would you really care if this - or any - app has access to an empty calendar, can access its empty Drive, or ends up adding an irrelevant email address to a spam list? (By the way, it's not lost on me that you probably already do have such a setup, it's just, I know far too many folks who don't!)

ranieuwe 4y ago

This seems to focus a lot on the word usage too, which is useful. Would be great if this combined with PowerPoint Online with Speaker Coach somehow. Then both deck, pace, clarity and word use are addressed. PowerPoint does some of it, but not to the depth that this seems to do it.

orbital-decay 4y ago

>The best part? No one else knows you’re using it. Right. Soon, everybody will just assume you're using one, without knowing.

joshka 4y ago

I need this, but would only ever want to run a local only version.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

mr-pink 4y ago

if we're going to a world of AI everywhere, why do I need to become a robot myself?

thegayretard69 4y ago
so you can fit in
- 6stringmerc 4y ago
  Relevant from 16 years ago: https://youtu.be/UW2_3rvNUL8 https://youtu.be/UW2_3rvNUL8

kirykl 4y ago

Or you could hire or ask any random person to give feedback, that at least is a human

josephjrobison 4y ago
Honestly if you’re not a confident public speaker you may also be embarrassed in front of family / friends / colleagues, so I see this AI as a great bridge to get over that initial hump. Then yes, do it in front of a human at some point too.

raphar 4y ago

I don't say that this is the case, but it's a question of time that your videos/audios end up used in a questionable way because you trusted a service similar to the one described here.

behnamoh 4y ago

I'm an introvert and often shy away from talking to strangers. But interestingly, I've always been pretty good at public presentations. I've received multiple compliments after my presentations. I'm often really confident when presenting my slides. Part of it is because I spend so much time creating content (slides) and in the process, I come up with creative ways to explain different things. I also tend to walk a bit during my talks and make eye contact with the audience and use my hands a lot. I wish I could be like that all the time so that people could see the real potential and enthusiasm in me, but unfortunately I'm mostly reserved and don't initiate conversations especially with strangers. Aside from love life, it affects my professional life as well—lots of professors thought of me as a low-profile, shy student, but sometimes they'd get a glimpse of what I could be during my presentations and changed their mind. Recently I started to start having some conversations with people I don't know and man, it feels great! I feel more confident just by talking to and asking peoples' names in the building. I guess the key is that I don't expect these convos to go anywhere. When you're introvert, the circle of friends is so small that people have so much value/influence on you. When you broaden your scope, you start to see other people as points on a sphere—as their value (being special) decreases, so does the fear of saying the wrong thing to them, so you are more likely to start conversations and have fun and see where things go instead of stressing over what you should say and whether they will be offended or not.

niek_pas 4y ago
You sound like me, 5 years ago, at age 21. I only realized I am actually an extroverted person a few months ago.
- 6stringmerc 4y ago
  You can be both! I score as both INTJ and ENTJ depending on the day and my mood.
  - hackerlight 4y ago
    It sounds like you're an ambivert. MBTI forces you into either the introvert or extrovert category by design, even though the trait is a spectrum.

metaph6 4y ago

That's one of the rare moments that I abhor what AI might bring out us humans...

andywood 4y ago
For me that moment is every time I read anything new about AI. Luddite life!

sshumaker 4y ago

In a leadership role. I would love this - particularly to help make me aware of when I should be holding more space for others. But the fact that the meeting data (audio/video) gets transmitted to a third party is a complete deal killer.

philosopher1234 4y ago

I really detest the idea that there is a correct way to speak. Speaking is communicating, it is the fundamental way you develop relationships with others. Public speaking is no different, just more people. Is there a correct way to be friends? No. And there is not a correct way to publicly speak either.

sdenton4 4y ago
There are, however, plenty of incorrect ways to be friends... Improving communication skills is about avoiding massive pitfalls while allowing your unique voice to develop through practice.
- philosopher1234 4y ago
  Is saying "um" one of these massive pitfalls you're referencing?
  - undecisive 4y ago
    Surely context matters massively? "Do you even still love me?" "Umm..." "Do you think Jack deserves this promotion?" "Umm..." "Do you think this software solves the problem?" "Umm..." "Surely you realise Donald Trump is the true incarnation of the coming messiah?" "Ummmm....." Those Ummms may well be massive pitfalls. Alternatively, those ummms might accurately indicate that the entire premise of the question is dubious or flat-out false, depending on your delivery. A person who uses ummm too much may well have severe problems communicating effectively, and a tool to help them only use ummms deliberately and meaningfully might be useful. A person in a presentation may wish to give an air of humility and approachability, in which case the ummms may be helpful - or they may wish to give an air of authority and certainty, in which case that meta-message is shattered by excessive umms. Intent-based communication is subjectively valid, and one can argue that expecting and requiring perfectly honed communication might be a form of implicit bias and prejudice. I appreciate the idea that, as a societal issue, reducing our dependence on homogenised thought delivery is worth a wider conversation, but I'd say this is the wrong level from which to attack that systemic change. You don't attack scalpel manufacturers for the proliferation of plastic surgery. Yet one could argue that a communication is - objectively - only as good as the way it is received. And while the majority of your communication might not need that level of certainty, for many people practice is the only thing they require to achieve the appearance of confidence. And democratising the ability to learn that skill doesn't seem to me a bad thing.

showmypost 4y ago

This looks really exciting but I want to warn that this fulfills the following criteria: - feels to good to be free - it targets a problem that we all sense and fear when we interact with other people - the privacy and security policy is legally invalid in California and the EU (missing both is quite weird as they’re very well known privacy standards) - the email address listed inside the privacy and security policy is invalid Before trying their service I attempted to request a proper privacy policy via their listed email address which returns me an error saying that this address doesn’t exist. As Slack is listed as a company that backs this service, I just reached out to their support team to cross-check the authenticity of this new service. This is getting exciting..

edf13 4y ago
it’s not slack listed as a company but rather “professionals from”… > Trusted by professionals from This is a growing trend I’ve noticed - it’s a bit of a fake call to legitimacy
- edf13 4y ago
  (It’s also virtually impossible to prove or disprove when it’s a large company!)
  - ricardobeat 4y ago
    Some companies strictly forbid using their logos in this form (I worked for one). A takedown notice is sent at first sight. It works, but makes sponsoring open source, events, etc a lot more painful due to the approvals needed.
davidktr 4y ago
It's pretty clear what/who the product is here ...
- fxtentacle 4y ago
  If this was a downloadable offline app, I'd be happy to give it a try. But uploading deepfake training data into the cloud? No thanks.

nonrandomstring 4y ago

This seems the epitome of "AI applications" that ride on human weakness, insecurity and disconnection. It's an application for people who have no friends. Any other sincere and observant human being can help you be a better communicator if you feel comfortable asking them to criticise your performance.

raffraffraff 4y ago
The title wasn't clear, so I thought it was a tool for learning / improving in a new language (you know, pronunciation, accent etc). I wonder would it be useful in that regard? Because for me, conversational Spanish or French would be difficult because I don't interact with native speakers.
mkmk3 4y ago
Is this a value judgement or you're just saying? "This app rides on human weakness" sounds like negative framing at least. Because yes, if you had good observant friends, it reduces the need for this for sure. But the human weakness, insecurity and disconnection is already there, and some people have no friends and have trouble communicating well. I think it's good to be skeptical of instances of this kind of work in terms of the details like how it respects the users privacy and treats their data sensitively, and whether or not it's selling an effective method, but at least it's sort of aimed towards good. Also ad tech is the epitome of AI applications that ride on human weakness ;)
- nonrandomstring 4y ago
  > Is this a value judgement ... sounds like negative framing at least. Yes it is a negative value judgement. I am not trolling or being unnecessarily provocative. I think that, on balance, some technologies are likely to make things worse. Not in general, but to specifically counter the very aim they set out to solve. > the human weakness, insecurity and disconnection is already there I disagree with this. On several levels. Some people have different abilities and personality for sure. But the insecurity and weakness I speak of is societal (weak interpersonal relations in a single-serving microwave meal culture), and is caused by precisely such disconnecting technologies. This kind of technology creates less incentives to develop human interpersonal skills and ultimately saps confidence. The user learns to simulate confidence. > I think it's good to be skeptical of instances of this kind of work in terms of the details like how it respects the users privacy and treats their data sensitively, and whether or not it's selling an effective method, I think it's important to be sceptical generally. That makes one a good technologist and not merely an implementor of random ideas that we do "because we can". All the things you mention are hot topics, and I agree they need scrutiny. But there are wider and more complex factors to remain sceptical of, such as the social impact of technologies. > but at least it's sort of aimed towards good. I have great faith and optimism in human beings, these things are always "aimed toward good". I make no judgements about the motives of the developers (which I think is already a few steps more charitable than some of the insinuations I've seen in comments). I'm getting down-voted because I dare to commit a heresy of asking deeper questions. > Also ad tech is the epitome of AI applications that ride on human weakness ;) That's true.

spoonjim 4y ago

If you want this functionality but not with some sketchy startup, Microsoft PowerPoint has this built in for free (not free exactly, but with whatever you pay for the Microsoft bundle of crap)

kimburgess 4y ago
It's also rolling out to Teams: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams-public-preview/now-in-public-preview-speaker-coach-in-microsoft-teams-meetings/m-p/3568697 https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams-publi...

yeezyseezy 4y ago

I can’t imagine many companies would allow this to be installed on company hardware.

qikInNdOutReply 4y ago

Why? Why not have my videostream analyzed and the coach synthesize a better communicating videostream? Cut out the feeble middle men and let the machines negotiate with a shopping list of interests ? I dont want to be socially ept, cunning and able, if a machine can do that for me.

nonrandomstring 4y ago
> let the machines negotiate I think you're on the money as to where that's headed. However, your understanding of technology seems to be entirely as weapons to gain advantage over others. Is that a fair observation? Might technology have other uses?
- qikInNdOutReply 4y ago
  Thats what nature is. State copying itself until it runs out of matter and energy and starts to copy itself over other stateful creatures. Gras vs flower, flower vs tree, savannah vs forrest, animals for whichever ecosystem feeds them. Why should be a social apex predator be a inherent save role in human society? Nothing of value there, that cant be reproduced by machines.
  - nonrandomstring 4y ago
    Sounds like Conway's "Game of Life". Outside that imaginary petri dish, that two dimensional model of existence, and ignoring Rousseau, Kierkegaard, 3-5000 years of human religious thought, then your question makes sense; > Why should be a social apex predator be a inherent s(l)ave role in human society? If you truly believe what you say about "nature" it becomes; Why would a social apex predator, knowing the love of Jesus, the insights of Einstein, Penrose, Hofstadter, being a greater warrior-poet than Colonel Kurtz, then create and unleash another more potent agent than itself (ostensibly for amusement)? Three possibilities come to my mind. - Hubris - Self-loathing/suicide - Extraordinary stupidity (misjudgement of our own intelligence) Do you have a preference?
- trention 4y ago

deleted 4y ago

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andywood 4y ago

Imagine being so [insert your own term] that a robot is qualified to teach you to communicate better with humans.

sideshowb 4y ago
Robot says you're coming across as judgemental ;-)

thih9 4y ago

Judging from the comments, looks like there is demand for zero knowledge speech and video processing.

farleykr 4y ago

I cannot over emphasize how much I don’t want a computer teaching me to talk. The only reason this is a problem is that we’re relying on computers for communication too much in the first place.

dvngnt_ 4y ago
I don't understand this. The only reason this is a problem is because we rely on computers for communication too much. So the issue is less the service and more the fact that we live in a world with a lot of texting applications and emails being sent? I would understand if you're claiming that it would make us speak more "robotic"
- farleykr 4y ago
  Fair enough. My point is that any time spent communicating in texts, emails, chat apps, etc. diminishes your ability to communicate in meaningful ways. Electronic communication is incapable of fulfilling the requirements for effective communication to take place. At best it’s useful for one off exchanges of information. Or it takes a long time to craft a well thought out piece of writing, which the vast majority of us are not doing. We think we can just substitute a Zoom call for an in person meeting. This is brought on by the fact that we think the internet is a solution to problems in and of itself instead of just a tool. Asking the internet to in turn teach us how to talk only makes the problem worse. Doing the work of spending time with people in real life is the best possible solution for learning how to communicate meaningfully and effectively. We can’t offload all our problems to AI. We’re just creating different problems. Case and point: this comment thread, while giving us the ability to transfer sterile information is devoid of all the nuance of an in person conversation.

hackerlight 4y ago

Can we have something like this for text?

bradhilton 4y ago
Check out the Hemingway Editor: https://hemingwayapp.com https://hemingwayapp.com

giantg2 4y ago

Do they have a version of this for couples communication?

BrainVirus 4y ago

theGnuMe 4y ago
Well we are only a few iterations away from actual AIs doing customer service anyway.

citilife 4y ago

Seems similar to https://www.read.ai/ https://www.read.ai/ or https://otter.ai/ https://otter.ai/ in terms of functionality, but focused more on individuals. Read.ai focuses more on cutting down meetings and provides recommendations to reduce workload (which includes improving communication). Read works on meet, zoom, teams or webex and just joins the meetings as a bot. Otter.ai focuses on transcription and making notes very accessible and searchable. From the demo poised seems to require you to use their video chat, I'm not sure how I feel about that. It's a commodity, but seems like it would be hard to get people to switch to and trust. I recall zoom had several trust issues in the past (related to routing to China). Most companies don't want their interviews logged for liability reasons.

bboylen 4y ago

I'm curious how many people would be helped by real time critical feedback while speaking in public. For people who are already anxious about speaking, I could see the negative feedback causing a downwards spiral of making them even more anxious.

NIL8 4y ago

Politicians and public figures could use something like this for interviews or taking questions on the podium to tweak their speeches in real-time to sound more legit. An antidote for this would be an OSS alternative for the rest of us to identify dishonesty/inconsistencies and fact-check in real-time.