AI Empathy Research

What effect do emotionally intelligent assistants have on consumer shopping experiences???? ??? Read on to hear insights from a new study between The University of Zurich and Hume AI! Traditional AI voice assistants, like Alexa or Google Assistant, excel at functional tasks (e.g., setting reminders or finding information) but often lack the emotional depth needed for meaningful user connections, especially in emotionally driven settings like shopping for experiential products (e.g., scented candles) or customer service interactions. Researchers at the University of Zurich deployed Hume's Empathic Voice Interface (EVI) in an application to test how shoppers would change their consumer behavior while chatting with an emotionally intelligent AI who could talk them through their decisions. The results showed that users strongly preferred an empathic AI over "utility" focused ones for both experiential and functional purchases. Shoutout to University of Zurich researchers Alex Mari, PhD and Ertugrul Uysal, and our very own Jeff Brooks. Read more below! https://lnkd.in/e9iARq6X

Today, we're releasing Octave: the first LLM built for text-to-speech. Now you can design any voice with a prompt, give acting instructions to control emotion and delivery (sarcasm, whispering, etc.), and produce long-form content on our Creator Studio. Unlike traditional TTS that just “reads” words aloud, Octave understands how meaning affects delivery to generate emotional, human-like speech. Key features: ?? Voice Design: Create any AI voice you can imagine with a simple prompt. From "ASMR Southern meditation coach" to "film noir detective" — Octave instantly generates the voices you need for your content. ?? Acting Instructions: Octave is the first TTS system that can take natural language instructions to change emotional delivery and speaking style. ?? Context-Aware Expression: Trained on 1000x more language than traditional TTS, Octave understands your script like a human actor, delivering realistic emotions, sarcasm, pace, word emphasis, and more. Octave’s first-of-its-kind voice intelligence speaks for itself ?? In a blind study, Octave outperformed ElevenLabs Voice Design: ??71.6% preferred Octave's audio quality ???51.7% found Octave more natural ??57.7% said Octave better matched voice descriptions And the best part? Even with superior capabilities, Octave is cheaper than alternatives. Create with Octave today: https://lnkd.in/eQN7hJxT Our blog shares more about Octave, our blind study, and what’s next: https://lnkd.in/eWTxFjBQ #AI #TextToSpeech #VoiceAI #Octave

How do the vocal characteristics of voice assistants like Alexa shape our perceptions and influence our behavior? A fascinating Journal of Interactive Marketing study finds that: ??? Variations in the vocal tract length (VTL) of conversational agents influence users' ascriptions of the agent’s physicality (i.e., height and weight). ??? Variations in the VTL of conversational agents influence how masculine versus feminine the agent is perceived to be, and this perception is mediated by the ascribed physicality. ??? Marketers can adjust vocal features to optimize customer interactions and advertising performance. Check out the piece from Sage below to learn more! The full study by Fotis Efthymiou, PhD, Christian Hildebrand, Emanuel de Bellis, and Will Hampton, PhD is available here: https://lnkd.in/g_V5dfgj #digitalvoices #Alexa #Google #voiceassistants #AI #marketingresearch

Last week, Questrom School of Business, Boston University hosted the 8th annual Psychology of Technology Institute conference with the theme "The Quantified Society". Thanks to Carey Morewedge and the QSB team for being wonderful hosts and making sure that it was a great conference experience. When you put academics, practitioners, and technologists who are passionate about the same topics in the same room, no wonder you get magic: Many interesting research projects and innovative insights. Thanks to Juliana Schroeder, Nathanael Fast, and Ravi Iyer for their continued effort at the Psych of Tech Institute, through which this community thrives. The small poster session (only 11 posters!) was a great way to engage in substantial discussions with the participants and get quality feedback. I presented two of my ongoing projects on (1) how social media have been impacting us to be more achievement-driven and conformist (w/ Sascha Alavi - Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg and Valéry Bezen?on - Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Neuchatel), and (2) how those with higher skills might be more empowered by the use of AI in their work (w/ Peter Mathias Fischer - HEC Paris). Last but not least, presenting your work and getting feedback is constructive, but it is just lovely to see familiar faces and catch up after some time. Looking forward to the next year! ETH Zürich Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making