Opinion: It's creepy that AI is teaching workers to be more human 14 Apr, 2021 05:26 AM 5 minutes to read Cogito promises to "coach" call centre workers empathy using AI. Photo / Getty Images Financial Times OPINION: Empathy is one of those precious human qualities that we don't think artificial intelligence will ever supplant. It is argued that jobs requiring empathy will be relatively untouched (and perhaps even elevated) by the rise of smart machines. But in the call centre industry, a more complicated story is beginning to play out. Companies such as Cogito promise to "deliver empathy on an enterprise scale" by using artificial intelligence to "coach" call centre workers in real time. Cogito monitors the words, tone and pitch of customer calls. If the customer starts to sound irritated or upset, it will send an "empathy cue" that reminds the worker to think about how the customer is feeling and try to relate. The purpose is to "help make individuals better versions of themselves", as Cogito's marketing material puts it.