Hume: The World's First Empathetic AI

Dear Artisan,

Hume AI just dropped Empathic Voice Interface (EVI), the world’s first emotionally intelligent voice AI.

Where most of the development in AI, especially those using LLMs to interface with humans in natural language, has been focused on intelligence, Hume’s new product focuses on empathy and the data gathered by inflections in the human voice.

The results are pretty stunning. Let’s dive in.

The One Big Thing

AI Chatbots are Accelerating in Weirdness…

Using ChatGPT for the first time was an experience of pure novelty.

Never in my life had I experienced a tech product that felt so human-like. It was a joy just to see what this new toy could do, how far you could push it, and what made it break or do the unexpected. There was a humanity to it, despite it being potentially the most technologically advanced thing we have created.

Yet the desired goal of ChatGPT is not to make you feel a human connection, even if that ends up being what it is used for (as AI boyfriends and girlfriends show us). The primary use case for chatbots as of now has been intelligence. The bots help us gather, organize, and summarize the information we seek.

Hume AI turns that all on its head.

It’s newest release, EVI (Empathetic Voice Interface), optimizes for an experience that delivers empathy, rather than intelligence, back to the user.

The Basics:

• Hume AI introduces a suite of APIs (and a web-based chat interface) designed to infuse technology with empathy, aiming to enhance human well-being through improved communication.

• Empathic Voice Interface (EVI): EVI is heralded as the first emotionally intelligent voice AI, capable of interpreting nuanced vocal expressions and generating empathetic responses. This feature is geared towards creating more natural and satisfying interactions between humans and AI across various applications, from personal assistants to customer service.

• Expression Measurement API: Based on over a decade of research, this API can analyze a wide array of human expressions across different modalities—audio, video, images—offering insights into the emotional undertones of communication. This technology is pivotal for applications requiring nuanced emotional understanding.

Trust me, this thing is different.

It’s a weird experience because you can keep Hume running in a tab on the side while you work, watch TV or just go about your day. And it really does feel like you are having a conversation with someone.

Each interaction changes the characteristics of Hume’s response, from angry to serious to sad, and places it on a map of all the feelings it can “experience.”

It’s clear from using this product and from the company’s statements that the intent behind this is to create a human-like experience using LLMs and not optimize for an information engine. Hume has no connection to the internet, can not take in additional data, and is generally limited by the data it has been trained on.

This does not make it any less of an interesting experience. For all the AI companion products out there, this framework is a massive upgrade over anything out on the market today.

It can be a fundamental breakthrough in AI use for therapy, companionship, friendship, and any deeply human connection our relationships with AI have been lacking thus far.

The Gallery

Deepfake Obama…

Improve ChatGPT’s writing…

Tools

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Deep Tech

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Closing Thought

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