Sorry public speaking teachers. It’s looking like your job could be getting automated much sooner than you ever thought. In fact, you just might be replaced by the device you’re listening to the radio on right now.
A team of researchers from Penn State has developed a program that turns Amazon’s Alexa into a public speaking coach. Using a series of “cognitive restructuring exercises” the Robo-tutor alleviates the speaker’s anxiety while also recognizing and changing any negative thought patterns they may have. And the good news for anyonewho is tired of having their roommates practice speeches on them,it works.
The program was given a test run and it successfully helped lower people’s pre-speech anxiety. The study’s lead authorJinping Wangsays “there is often a concern of being judged by human tutors [but] if we can use a machine like Alexa to provide such training to individuals with speech anxiety or social anxiety, we can help them get rid of their concern of being judged.” Much like how Alexa doesn’t judge you for requesting the same song every single day, she won’t judge your stuttering, and will actually make you a better speaker.
Source:Study Finds