A computer system that can carry on a discussion with a human being by reacting to signals such as tone of voice and facial expression is being developed by an international team led by German AI research center DFKI.

Known as SEMAINE, the project will build a Sensitive Artificial Listener (SAL) system, which will perceive a human user’s facial expression, gaze, and voice, adapt its performance, and pursue different actions, depending on the non-verbal behavior of the user.

“The fact that computers do not currently [react to our emotions] is one of the main reasons why communicating with them is so unlike interacting with a human. It is also one of the reasons we can find them so frustrating,” said Professor Roddy Cowie of Queen’s University Belfast.

Source: I’m listening — conversations with computers