The National Institute of Mental Health, a public institute specializing in mental illness research in the United States, reports that public speaking anxiety affects 73% of people. Can artificial intelligence help bring comfort and ease in front of a crowd?
This is the principle of Yoodli, a free platform that helps people improve their speaking skills without the pressure of an audience. The technology, developed at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, provides real-time analytics on technical aspects of speaking, such as filler word use, pacing, volume variation, among other things.
“Developing speaking skills is like training a muscle,” says Varun Puri, co-founder of Yoodli. “In the same way that we warm up before a sporting event, or calm our mind through meditation, we can train our body before speaking. At Yoodli, we believe that preparing for a speech can be fun and stress-free. That’s why we’ve built daily AI-powered drills to help people improve their impromptu speaking and interview skills. »
What can an AI deal with stress?
Yoodli isn’t the only AI-powered public speaking program. An app called Orai similarly analyzes uploaded speeches to help users identify areas for improvement.
The question is whether a digital app or program can actually alleviate the dread that some feel when called upon to deliver a speech, rather than just helping the user master the technique. For those with physiological reactions, such as shortness of breath, it can be difficult to transfer lessons learned on an app to a real-life scenario. Yoodli aims to ease this transition through interactivity, including a community-driven integration that allows users to share their workout speeches with colleagues to get their feedback. Good mechanics are certainly the cornerstone of any good speech, with confidence gained through practice and measured improvement going a long way. This goes for beginners as well as world-class speakers.
“Preparing a speech is my thing,” says Ed Tate, world champion rhetorician. “However, it had been years since I had won our club’s impromptu speech contest (called ‘table topics’). Since I started using Yoodli, I have won my Toastmasters club “tabletops” three times in a row. »
Yoodli’s advisory team includes TEDx trainers, public speaking professors from top universities, and other world champions in public speaking. Investors include Madrona Venture Group, an early Amazon investor, and the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. It was developed by former engineers and product managers from Google, Facebook and Apple.
Source: ZDNet.com