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Discussions around <keyword id="19956983" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mental-health" source="keywords">mental health</keyword> at the workplace reignited in the last few days when the death of two corporate employees made headlines. And it is no secret that without having a healthy mind, you cannot be productive. Ample studies in the last few months have pointed out the importance of mental health and it is important to talk about these issues.<br /><br />Today (October 10) marks <keyword id="23481940" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="World-Mental-Health-Day" source="keywords">World Mental Health day</keyword>. It is an occasion for raising awareness about mental health issues and combating social stigma. Celebrated globally since 1992, this day encourages education and advocacy for mental well-being, reminding us that mental health is a crucial aspect of overall health, especially in the workplace.<br /><br /><h2>Ex-Google employee experienced stress, anxiety<br /></h2><br /><keyword id="23300967" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nicholas-Whitaker" source="keywords">Nicholas Whitaker</keyword>, who worked with <keyword id="19902762" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Google" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Google" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Google">Google</keyword> for 13 years, told Business Insider India in an interview that he also experienced the pressures of a high-stress work environment. <br /><br />“During my time at Google, I faced significant stress and anxiety. It became clear that no matter how successful you are on paper, if your mental health is compromised, it diminishes your quality of life and ability to fully engage at work,” he said. <br /><br />He added that <keyword id="19925554" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mindfulness" source="keywords">mindfulness</keyword> played a crucial role in his recovery, saying that mental health is not just a personal issue but a workplace concern that should be treated with equal importance as productivity and performance.<br /><br /><h2>How to protect your mental health?<br /></h2><br />To help others protect their mental health, Whitaker shared several key practices that can be game-changers.<br /><br />1. Set Boundaries: Understand your limits and communicate them clearly. This includes managing your workload, taking time away from work, and setting boundaries around communication. Protecting your time and energy is essential.<br /><br />2. Practice Mindfulness or Meditation: Mindfulness was a lifesaver for him in managing corporate stress. Even dedicating a few minutes each day to meditation can help you stay grounded and aware of your feelings, allowing you to make necessary adjustments before burnout sets in.<br /><br />3. Take Breaks: In high-pressure environments, it’s easy to feel that there’s no time for a break. However, regular breaks—even just a short walk or stepping outside—can significantly enhance your mental state and boost productivity.<br /><br />4. Find a Support System: Having people to talk to, whether colleagues, friends, or coaches, can make a considerable difference. Building a supportive community can combat feelings of isolation, which often exacerbate mental health issues.<br /><br />5. Align Work with Values: Stress and dissatisfaction often arise from a misalignment between personal values and work. Reflecting on what truly matters to you and making small shifts toward work that aligns with those values can lead to greater fulfillment.<br /><br /><br /> To conclude, Whitaker said, “Mental health is not a luxury—it’s essential for personal well-being and professional success. When organisations invest in their employees’ mental health, they cultivate a culture where people feel supported, valued, and empowered to excel in their work.”<br /><br />As we observe <keyword id="23486492" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="world-mental-health" source="keywords">World Mental Health</keyword> Day, it’s crucial to remember that prioritising mental well-being can lead to a more productive, innovative, and fulfilled workforce.<br />

World Mental Health Day: Ex-Google employee shares tips on protecting mental health at workplace, says he experienced stress and anxiety

No matter how many exotic dishes you taste, "Maa ke haath ka khaana" is something that can never be forgotten. Almost every Indian mom has that one special dish that makes the entire family want to eat to their heart's content. On the occasion of <keyword id="23565163" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="World-Food-Day" source="keywords">World Food Day</keyword> today, we connected with a few Indian moms and asked them their special yet nutritious dish that gets their families' attention. Read on to know some healthy yet tasty recipes and try them out yourself! <br /><br /><h2>Archana Singh recommends Rava potato bites</h2><br />Archana Singh, a homemaker hailing from New Delhi, recommends <keyword id="23570396" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rava-bites" source="keywords">Rava bites</keyword> for a quick, healthy and delicious snack. All you need is 500 grams rava (a type of flour made from durum wheat), 50 grams cheese and 50 grams mashed potato. You also need some salt, oregano and chilly flakes, as per taste.<br /><br />Now, to make the potato bites, boil some water and put oregano, salt and chilli flakes. Now, lower the flame and start adding rava to this boiled water mixture. Add the rava gradually and keep mixing till it gets thicker and you get a dough. Now, remove this from the flame and let it cool. Once the dough cools down, make small bite-sized balls and add grated cheese and mashed potatoes to them. <br /><br />Take these bites and deep fry them. For a healthier recipe, you can opt for the air fryer. <br /><br /><br /><h2>Meenakshi Sharma recommends home-made uttapam</h2><br />Who doesn't love the Indian version of pancakes, Uttapam? And they are really easy to make. Meenakshi Sharma, a teacher by profession, rarely gets time in the kitchen but when she does, her favourite go-to healthy snack is uttapam. <br /><br />You’ll need some idli batter prepared the previous day, along with a cup of chopped onions, tomatoes, spinach, and cilantro. You’ll also require half a cup of grated carrots and two tablespoons of vegetable oil. These simple ingredients will come together to create a nutritious and flavourful dish<br /><br />Start by combining the idli batter with the chopped vegetables in a bowl. Then, heat a non-stick pan with a little vegetable oil. Pour a ladle of the batter onto the pan, ensuring it remains thicker than a dosa. You will know that the batter is cooked when you notice little circles appear on it. Once you spot them, flip the uttapam and cook from the other side. Allow the uttapam to cook for about five minutes until the vegetables are slightly crisp. Serve hot, pairing it with coconut or groundnut chutney, or sambar for added flavour.<br /><br /><br /><h2>Sumeeta Bindra recommends this <keyword id="23570397" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Veggie-rice-bowl" source="keywords">veggie rice bowl</keyword></h2><br />Sumeeta Bindra, another teacher hailing from New Delhi, swears by this veggie rice bowl recipe to satiate your hunger pangs in a quick and healthy way.<br /><br />For this Veggie Rice Bowl recipe, you’ll need one tablespoon of oil, about 6-7 garlic cloves, a bowl of your preferred vegetables, salt, oregano, a tablespoon each of chilli flakes and pizza pasta sauce, 1.5 cups of milk, and a slice of cheese. For the rice, gather another tablespoon of oil, 5-6 garlic cloves, some coriander leaves, and a bowl of boiled rice.<br /><br />Start by sautéing the vegetables with garlic, adding salt, chilli flakes, and cooking for a minute. Then, stir in the pizza pasta sauce, milk, and cheese, letting everything simmer until well combined. Set this aside. For the rice, sauté the chopped garlic and coriander leaves, seasoning with salt and pepper before mixing in the boiled rice. Finally, serve the sautéed veggies and rice together in a bowl for a hearty meal.<br /><br /><h2>Archana Kumar recommends roasted makhana<br /></h2>Archana Kumar, a homemaker from New Delhi, feels nothing is better than some makhanas for those hunger cravings.<br /><br />To prepare roasted makhana, you’ll need two cups of makhana (fox nuts) and one tablespoon of cow ghee. Begin by heating a pan and adding the makhana along with the ghee. Roast them on a medium flame for about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure they become crispy and evenly roasted. Once done, sprinkle one teaspoon of Himalayan pink salt over the roasted makhana, and they’re ready to be served as a crunchy, healthy snack.

World Food Day 2024: Healthy yet tasty recipes from Indian moms’ kitchens because home is where the health is

Anyone following the rhetoric around <keyword id="107950" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Artificial-Intelligence" source="Orion">artificial intelligence</keyword> in recent years has heard one version or another of the cl<keyword id="6355999" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="AI" source="Orion">ai</keyword>m that AI is inevitable. Common themes are that AI is already here and indispensable, and people who are bearish on it harm themselves. <br /><br />In the business world, AI advocates tell companies and workers that they will fall behind if they fail to integrate generative AI into their operations. In the sciences, AI advocates promise that AI will aid in curing hitherto intractable diseases. <br /><br />In higher education, AI promoters admonish teachers that students must learn how to use AI or risk becoming uncompetitive when it comes time to find a job. <br /><br />In national security, AI's champions say that either the nation invests heavily in AI weaponry, or it will be at a disadvantage against the Chinese and Russians, who are already doing so. <br /><br /> The argument across these different domains is essentially the same: The time for AI skepticism has come and gone. The <keyword id="6355118" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="technology" source="Orion">technology</keyword> will shape the future, whether you like it or not. You have the choice to learn how to use it or be left out of that future. Anyone trying to stand in the technology's way is as hopeless as the manual weavers who resisted the mechanical looms in the early 19th century. <br /><br />In the past few years, my colleagues and I (Nir Eisikovits, Professor of Philosophy and Director, Applied Ethics Center, UMass Boston) have been studying the ethical questions raised by the widespread adoption of AI, and I believe the inevitability argument is misleading. <br /><br /><h2>History and hindsight</h2> This claim is the most recent version of a deterministic view of technological development. It's the belief that innovations are unstoppable once people start working on them. In other words, some genies don't go back in their bottles. The best you can do is harness them for your good purposes. <br /><br />This deterministic approach to tech has a long history. It's been applied to the influence of the printing press as well as to the rise of automobiles and the infrastructure they require, among other developments. <br /><br /> But I believe that when it comes to AI, the technological determinism argument is both exaggerated and oversimplified. <br /><br /><h2>AI in the field(s)</h2> Consider the contention that businesses can't afford to stay out of the AI game. The case has yet to be made that AI is delivering significant productivity gains to the firms that use it. A report in The <keyword id="20856675" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="economist" source="keywords">Economist</keyword> in July 2024 suggests that so far, the technology has had almost no economic impact. <br /><br />AI's role in higher education is also still very much an open question. Though universities have, in the past two years, invested heavily in AI-related initiatives, evidence suggests they may have jumped the gun. <br /><br />The technology can serve as an interesting pedagogical tool. For example, creating a Plato chatbot that lets students have a text conversation with a bot posing as Plato is a cool gimmick. <br /><br />However,  AI is already starting to displace some of the best tools teachers have for assessment and for developing critical thinking, such as writing assignments. The college essay is going the way of the dinosaurs as more teachers give up on the ability to tell whether their students are writing their papers themselves. What's the cost-benefit argument for giving up on writing, an important and useful traditional skill? <br /><br />In the sciences and medicine, the use of AI seems promising. Its role in understanding the structure of proteins, for example, will likely be significant for curing diseases. The technology is also transforming medical imaging and has been helpful in accelerating the drug discovery process. <br /><br />But the excitement can become exaggerated. AI-based predictions about which cases of COVID-19 would become severe have roundly failed, and doctors rely excessively on the technology's diagnostic ability, often against their own better clinical judgment. And so, even in this area, where the potential is great, AI's ultimate impact is unclear. <br /><br /> In national security, the argument for investing in AI development is compelling. Since the stakes can be high, the argument that if the Chinese and the Russians are developing AI-driven autonomous weapons, the United States can't afford to fall behind has real purchase. <br /><br />But a complete surrender to this form of reasoning, though tempting, is likely to lead the <keyword id="19899807" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="u-s-" source="keywords">U.S.</keyword> to overlook the disproportionate impact of these systems on nations that are too poor to participate in the AI arms race. The major powers could deploy the technology in conflicts in these nations. And, just as significantly, this argument de-emphasizes the possibility of collaborating with adversaries on limiting military AI systems, favoring arms race over arms control.<h2><br />One step at a time</h2> Surveying the potential significance and risks of AI in these different domains merits some skepticism about the technology. I believe that AI should be adopted piecemeal and with a nuanced approach rather than subject to sweeping claims of inevitability. In developing this careful take, there are two things to keep in mind: <br /><br />-First, companies and entrepreneurs working on artificial intelligence have an obvious interest in the technology being perceived as inevitable and necessary, since they make a living from its adoption. It's important to pay attention to who is making claims of inevitability, and why. <br /><br />-Second, it's worth taking a lesson from recent history. Over the past 15 years, smartphones and the social media apps that run on them have come to be seen as a fact of life - a technology as transformative as it is inevitable. Then data started emerging about the <keyword id="6354774" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mental-health" source="Orion">mental health</keyword> harms they cause teens, especially young girls. School districts across the United States started to ban phones to protect the attention spans and mental health of their students. And some people have reverted to using flip phones as a quality of life change to avoid smartphones. <br /><br />After a long experiment with the mental health of kids, facilitated by claims of technological determinism, Americans changed course. What seemed fixed turned out to be alterable. There is still time to avoid repeating the same mistake with artificial intelligence, which potentially could have larger consequences for society.

Is AI dominance inevitable? A technology ethicist says no, actually

<i>This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with <keyword id="23300967" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nicholas-Whitaker" source="keywords">Nicholas Whitaker</keyword>, who worked with <keyword id="19902762" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Google" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Google" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Google">Google</keyword> for nearly 13 years and got laid off in 2023. He is now running a venture of his own. It has been edited for length and clarity.<br /></i><br />I joined Google over a decade ago and it became much more than just a job. At that time, Google had approximately 40,000 employees, and the atmosphere felt very much like a startup. Teams were nimble and cooperative, offering ample opportunities for personal and professional growth. There was an unmistakable sense of optimism and potential in the air. It was my first experience in the tech industry, and I viewed that period as a significant phase in my development. I gained valuable skills and benefited from the early support and mentorship of my colleagues and leaders. Perhaps this is why the experience of being laid off hit me so hard.<br /><br />I remember the moment vividly. It was 3 a.m., and I received a ping on LinkedIn from a colleague asking if I was safe. Initially, I thought there had been some kind of emergency—a shooting or perhaps a natural disaster. But when I checked my personal email, I discovered the real reason for their message. I found a short, impersonal email informing me that my role had been eliminated.<br /><br /><div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="113637185" title="Fired from Google after 13 years of service, he used his severance to build a business around helping others with their careers" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div><br /><h2>I was laid off without a warning<br /></h2><br />What shocked me the most was the lack of warning. After my colleague's message, I checked my work email only to find out that it was locked out of my phone and laptop. I then checked my personal email and there it was, a short email informing me about my layoff, providing  basic instructions about returning company property and navigating unemployment.<br /><br />The next few months were spent sending back my laptop, badge, and other Google gear. Along the way there were multiple errors and miscommunications from the team that made it all even more uncomfortable.<br /><br /><div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="113619411" title="Rename home Wi-Fi, leave badge at office: Ex-Amazon employee reveals tricks used by employees to not work from office" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div><br />There was only one text message from my former manager, asking how I was doing a few days after the layoff. Beyond that, I heard nothing from my old team. It was such a brutally impersonal and inhumane process.<br /><br /><br /><b><h2>If you have been laid off, you are not alone</h2></b><br />If you’ve been laid off, the first thing I want to say is: You’re not alone, and this moment doesn’t define you. When it first happens, it can feel incredibly personal, but <keyword id="19916567" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="layoffs" source="keywords">layoffs</keyword> are usually about business decisions, not your individual worth or performance.<br /><br />After spending over a decade at Google, I know how disorienting it can feel. But over time, I realised that this was also an opportunity to rethink what I really wanted from my career and life. Here are a few pieces of advice that helped me navigate this uncertain time:<br /><br />Give yourself space to process what happened: It’s okay to feel angry, sad, or uncertain. Let yourself experience those emotions, but try not to let them dictate your next move. Take the time you need to recover emotionally before jumping into something new.<br /><br /><strong>Reframe the situation:</strong> As hard as it sounds, a layoff can also be an opportunity to reassess what you want from your career. For me, the layoff became a catalyst for starting my own venture and reconnecting with what truly matters to me. This is a chance to explore new possibilities that may have been overshadowed by the stability of a previous job.<br /><br /><strong>Invest in your health:</strong> It’s easy to get caught up in the stress of finding the next thing, but make sure you’re taking care of your mental and physical health. For me, mindfulness and self-care were key to navigating this period. You can’t pour from an empty cup, so make sure you’re refilling yours.<br /><br /><strong>Reconnect with your network:</strong> Don’t be afraid to lean on your network for support, advice, or job leads. It can feel uncomfortable, but remember that people are often happy to help. Reach out to former colleagues, mentors, and friends, and let them know you’re in transition.<br /><br /><strong>Don’t rush the next step:</strong> Sometimes, the instinct is to jump into whatever comes next to avoid the discomfort of uncertainty. But if you can, take a beat and make sure your next move aligns with your values and long-term goals. Use this time to reflect on what you want from your next role or career path.<br /><br /><strong>Explore new avenues: </strong>If you’ve ever thought about starting your own business, freelancing, or shifting industries, now could be the perfect time to explore those ideas. That’s what I did with Changing Work Collective, and it’s led me to a more fulfilling and purpose-driven career than I ever had before.<br /><br /><div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="113800304" title="'Microsoft employee gets $300,000 for working 15-20 hours a week’: X user’s post goes viral" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div><br />Ultimately, a layoff is just <strong>one chapter in a much larger story</strong>. It can be a painful experience, but it’s also a chance for reinvention and growth. Stay grounded, take care of yourself, and trust that you have the resilience and skills to navigate this and come out stronger on the other side.<br /><br />

I was fired from Google after 13 years of service. Here's what I learnt on how to deal with layoffs

<keyword id="19902762" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Google" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Google" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Google">Google</keyword> laid off thousands of employees in 2023 and many found their lives turned upside down with just an email notification. After all, when you have given your heart and soul to an organisation, it is never easy accepting the fact that you are being asked to leave at a moment’s notice. The situation becomes even more complicated when you have been with the company for more than a decade. <br /><br />Something similar happened with <keyword id="23300967" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nicholas-Whitaker" source="keywords">Nicholas Whitaker</keyword>, who had been working with the company since 2010 and found out about his <keyword id="20118388" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="layoff" source="keywords">layoff</keyword> abruptly. <br /><br /><h2>The 3 am email bringing bad news</h2>“My layoff experience was traumatic. I got an email at 3 am to my personal email, that I only found because a colleague pinged me on Linkedin in the DMs to ask if I was ‘Ok’ and if I was ‘safe’,” Whitaker told <keyword id="21390875" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Business-Insider-India" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Business Insider India" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Business Insider India">Business Insider India</keyword> in a conversation. <br /><br />He added that when his colleague enquired about his safety, he thought it was a “shooting or some natural disaster.” In other words, he didn’t even imagine that he was being laid off from Google.<br /><br />He then revealed that when he checked his work email, he discovered that he was locked out of his laptop and phone. He then checked his personal email and there it was, the “short and impersonal email” that told him that his role at Google was being eliminated.<br /><br /><h2>The layoff process was uncomfortable</h2>When Google announced large-scale layoffs last year, the company made a lot of headlines for handling them in an unprofessional manner. In March 2023, several Google employees had even written an open letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, asking him to deal with layoffs in a better manner. <br /><br />Whitaker, narrating his own experience, shared with Business Insider India that after receiving the dreadful layoff email at 3 am, he spent the next few months completing formalities to get his payments that were due.<br /><br />He said, “It took all of the next several months for me to mail back my laptop, badge and any gear that I had that was Google property. (I also had to) navigate unemployment, health insurance and get all of the documentation I had to submit to "self Offboard" and to receive payments that I was supposed to get.”<br /><br />“Along the way there were multiple errors and miscommunications from the team that made it all even more uncomfortable,” he said.<br /><br />Whitaker also noted a complete lack of communication and empathy from his old team at Google. <br /><br />“I got a single text message from my prior manager asking how I was doing a few days after I was laid off, but otherwise no one reached out to check on me or offer assistance from my old team. Overall I found the process to be brutally impersonal and inhumane,” he said.<br /><br /><h2>Experience at Google</h2>But was Google always “inhumane” in his experience? Not really. There were some amazing days too and Google, according to Whitaker, was a different company when he had joined.<br /><br />“My initial experience working at Google was like it was a completely different company. I started as a temp, contractor and then a vendor for Google back in 2010, and at the time I think it was something like 40,000 employees. It had a real startup feel to it. Teams were agile and collaborative, and there was a lot of room for growth. It may have been specific to my team and org, but it felt like you had a lot more room for experimentation and autonomy to make decisions, and failure wasn't seen as a bad thing, but a necessary part of innovation,” he said. <br /><br />Whitaker also said that a “class system” was there at Google, especially since he was a TVC (Temporary, Vendor and Contractor).<br /><br />“As a TVC you wouldn't be included in many of the activities and learning opportunities that full time employees had, and didn't get invited to extracurricular activities. There was a real bias towards culture at the time, and words like Don't be Evil, and be Googly were often used.”<br /><br />However, in general, he added that the atmosphere was positive and full of possibilities. “Colleagues generally were very supportive, collaborative and encouraging to work with. I was excited as this was my first time working in big tech, or Corporate America and I saw that period of time as a real coming of age for me. I learned how to be a professional at Google and appreciated all of the early guidance and support that I got from colleagues and leaders.”<br /><br /><h2>Helping others</h2>It has now been over a year since Whitaker was laid off. He now has his own venture and helps other people navigate their careers.<br /><br />Talking about what motivated him to kick-start his own venture, he said, “After 13 years in big tech, the last few years in particular being particularly difficult due to toxic teams and leaders, I didn't want to jump right back into that kind of experience again. A year before getting laid off, I had experienced a bad <keyword id="19956983" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mental-health" source="keywords">mental health</keyword> crisis that was the result of workplace bullying, gaslighting and toxic leadership. <br /><br />"I wanted to help others avoid and recover from similar situations and create a community where people can find mutual support and coaching on how to best navigate their careers in a conscious way. My severance after working so long at Google allowed me to fund the launch of my coaching business, and eventually ‘changingwork.org’."<br /><br /><keyword id="23300968" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Changing-Work" source="keywords">Changing Work</keyword>, Whitaker explained, is his way of addressing a deep need in corporate life — helping people rediscover their sense of purpose and alignment in their careers and finding ways to build more conscious leaders and businesses.<br /><br />He added, “What makes this so transformative for me personally is that it allowed me to step into a role where I could integrate all the lessons from my own career—especially the parts that were hardest for me. During my time at Google, I saw firsthand how high-pressure environments can lead to burnout, anxiety, and a disconnect from our true selves.”<br /><br />The recent tragic death of a young CA at Ernst &amp; Young (EY) employee in India has turned the spotlight on toxic work cultures prevalent in many high-pressure industries. Broader debates on burnout, mental health struggles, and unrealistic expectations in corporate environments in the workplace have occupied social media platforms. This incident serves as a painful reminder that companies must prioritize <keyword id="21050364" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="employee-well-being" source="keywords">employee well-being</keyword> and mental health to foster sustainable, humane workplaces. And makes the work that people like Whitaker are doing all the more important.<br /><br />“I’ve spoken publicly about how mindfulness practice, coaching and therapy literally saved my life during some of my darkest times at Google. Changing Work is the culmination of that journey. It’s not just about helping others find balance and fulfillment—it’s about creating a space where I can live those values every day,” he concludes.<br />

Fired from Google after 13 years of service, he used his severance to build a business around helping others with their careers

In a world where your smartphone knows your dinner cravings, artificial intelligence (AI) is venturing into the intricate realm of <keyword id="21340844" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="human-emotions" source="keywords">human emotions</keyword>. Imagine an AI that can gauge your mood better than your closest friend. This intriguing thing is very much happening, and it could reshape how we interact with technology.<br /><h2>The quest for <keyword id="23059919" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="emotion-recognition" source="keywords">emotion recognition</keyword></h2>Human emotions are complex and often elusive, making them challenging to quantify. Researchers at Tsinghua University are fusing traditional psychological methods with advanced AI tools to create a clearer path to <keyword id="23285769" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="emotion-quantification" source="keywords">emotion quantification</keyword>. While humans might struggle to articulate their feelings, a considerable amount of work is being done to train AI to observe, quantify, and recognise various emotional states.<br /><br />Through technologies like <keyword id="23285768" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gesture-recognition" source="keywords">gesture recognition</keyword> and <keyword id="23285767" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="facial-emotion-recognition" source="keywords">facial emotion recognition</keyword> (FER), AI is preparing to become an emotional detective. As Feng Liu, a researcher at East China Normal University, noted, “This technology has the potential to transform fields such as health care, education, and customer service, facilitating <keyword id="21758007" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="personalised-experiences" source="keywords">personalised experiences</keyword> and enhanced comprehension of human emotions.”<br /><br />AI isn’t limited to one form of input; it combines a multitude of developments. For example, some techniques utilise EEG scans to monitor electrical activity in the brain, along with eye movement technology to gauge expressions. Other measurements, such as heart rate variability and electrical skin response, are also used to convert the intangible "emotion" into recognisable patterns.<br /><div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="113417607" title="A medical professor pitted AI models against his students to see who would score better on his tests. The results were shocking!" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>Multi-modal emotion recognition combines different perceptual channels — sight, hearing, and touch — to gain a more comprehensive understanding of emotions. Liu emphasises that “interdisciplinary collaboration between AI, psychology, psychiatry, and other fields will be key in achieving this goal and unlocking the full potential of emotion quantification for the benefit of society.”<br /><h2>Why it matters</h2>So, why does it matter that AI is learning to be emotionally intelligent? In our increasingly digital world, the ability to understand emotions could enhance interactions with technology and improve our quality of life. This innovation could create personalised experiences that resonate with our emotional states, transforming AI from a mere tool into a valuable partner in our daily lives.<br /><br />Further, as <keyword id="19956983" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mental-health" source="keywords">mental health</keyword> becomes a top priority, the potential for <keyword id="23285766" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="emotionally-intelligent-AI" source="keywords">emotionally intelligent AI</keyword> becomes even more significant. Emotion quantification AI can help monitor an individual’s mental health and create personalised experiences — all without the need to involve another person. This could lead to a more supportive environment for those struggling with their mental health.<br /><div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="113412410" title="AI robots should not look like us, says Ex-Google robotics moonshot boss as he explains what he learnt at the company" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>However, this emotionally savvy AI isn’t without challenges. Issues of safety and transparency, especially regarding sensitive topics like medical and psychological counselling, must be addressed. Stringent data handling practices and privacy measures will be essential. Additionally, ensuring that AI can adapt to cultural nuances is critical to maintaining its integrity and reliability.<br /><br />The findings of this research have been published in <em>CAAI Artificial Intelligence Research </em>and can be accessed <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.26599/AIR.2024.9150040">here</a>.<br />

You Searched For "World Mental Health Day" and got 6 results

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