Amazon recently unveiled a smarter, more human-like Alexa Plus that purports to be able to hold natural conversations and remember details like your favorite foods and sports teams. The voice assistant also integrates with services like Uber, OpenTable, and Amazon Fresh, so you can book a ride, reserve a table, or order groceries through the app.
Importantly for our purposes, the new improved Alexa can detect your mood too, just as was anticipated in Beyond Smart: Lawyering with Emotional Intelligence. The march of technology outlined in the second edition previews AI that will soon be able to offer artificial emotional intelligence, which this small advance is a step towards.
Why does that matter? Human lawyers have emotional intelligence as their bulwark against a takeover of legal advice by rising technology–humans still want a reassuring, mutually respectful and considerate relationship with whoever is giving them often life- or fortune-saving advice.
However, if human lawyers aren’t able to offer that along with their legal expertise, clients will undoubtedly see what the AI version of that type of legal relationship can offer. We’ve seen clients of AI therapists say they prefer their advice over that of a human because, they say, the AI therapist is less judgmental. The therapy industry is pushing back hard against those who might have that preference, pointing out that AI therapists have a different level of “expertise” and may not provide the best advice, a charge that has likely been leveled against many human therapists as well.
Detecting a client’s mood is a primary but essential step in understanding their issues, their receptivity to advice, their hopes for success or reconciliation. If their lawyers can’t provide that service, there’s an Alexa coming who can.