Will they ever have virtual economists, or are we already there? Ed Weick
----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2003 1:46 PM Subject: [Futurework] future of work > future of work??? > > THE HUMAN TOUCH WITH A VIRTUAL RECEPTIONIST > A virtual receptionist who can read the emotions of visitors and make the > appropriate verbal responses has been launched in Japan. According to the > Kyodo news agency, the US$15,000 virtual receptionist is is a program > residing on a PC at the reception desk. She appears as a woman dressed in a > uniform on a monitor, and for now can converse in Japanese and English. Made > by start-up firm A.G.I. Corp, the report said that a camera first picks up > the appearance of a visitor, which causes the receptionist to greet the > person. Then microphones pick up the visitor's voice and the voice > recognition software attempts to analyze what the person is looking for and > give the appropriate response, such as referring them to the department or > person they are looking for. But the sensitive microphones of the system can > also pick up emotional cues, such as anger. "When an angry customer comes to > complain about something, the virtual receptionist can quickly understand > the person's feeling and respond in a sincere and apologetic manner," said > the Kyodo report. The next version of the software will allow the > receptionist to make small talk with waiting visitors, A.G.I. told Kyodo. > The firm expects to sell 1,000 units of the system this year. ( Source: > <http://asia.cnet.com/newstech/personaltech/0,39001147,39122466,00.htm> > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
