Tuka Al Hanai

A research assistant for the Spoken Language System Group, MIT CSAIL, Al Hanai developed an A.I. system that can detect depression in a conversation. From information on what was said (text) and how it was said (audio), the neural network model can automatically figure out what patterns it should look for. This is different to prior work, where a model is trained to look for specific words ("sad," "down," "therapy") and questions ("do you have a history of depression?"). She has also developed an A.I. system that can evaluate the mood of a conversation by utilizing information from a speaker’s speech, pulse, and movement. The system works even without ever having heard the person before, and can determine, with high accuracy, whether he or she is happy or sad. Using a neural network, the system can automatically determine what signals to look for and can make evaluations in real-time.