A Chinese tech company, Huawei, is developing artificial intelligence that they believe could read human emotions. The AI would be used in smartphone virtual assistants (think SIRI) and would upgrade them to be more emotionally interactive. Currently such technology can perform a number of helpful tasks, such as giving directions, weather updates, and even telling jokes. Huawei believes that emotional intelligence software can build upon this and make virtual assistants more responsive.
While the technology is still in development and will be used in Huawei’s own virtual assistant, it’s quite possible that you’ll be able to have a different kind of conversation with SIRI or Cortana in the near future.