AI, EQ & Communication News — 2026-10-21 (Wed) Morning News

Overview

A survey reported that many people in Japan in their teens through 30s say they can open up more to conversational AI than to a best friend or their mother (President Online). The AI English-conversation service Speak launched a feature for phone-style calls with AI, available at any time, 24 hours a day (Tourism Media Service, Jiji.com). The AI interview-practice service Mirai Shukatsu, built into the job-hunting platform OfferBox, passed 20,000 cumulative sessions (PR TIMES).

AI that reads emotions

No notable developments. 【AI empathy and emotional intelligence】 No notable developments. 【Human EQ and strengths in the AI era】 No notable developments. 【Changes in conversation and relationships】 President Online reported a survey finding that people in Japan in their teens through 30s say they can open up more to conversational AI than to a best friend or their mother, a relationship the outlet characterizes as too close (President Online). Separately, the AI English-conversation service Speak launched a feature for phone-style calls with AI, which users can start at any time, 24 hours a day (Tourism Media Service).

Words AI writes and speaks

No notable developments.

Speaking practice and coaching

Mirai Shukatsu, an AI interview-practice service included in the job-hunting platform OfferBox, surpassed 20,000 cumulative practice sessions (PR TIMES). The AI English-conversation service Speak also launched Speak Phone, a feature that lets users call AI at any time and talk freely, 24 hours a day (Jiji.com).

Research and surveys

A latest survey reported by President Online found that people in Japan from their teens through 30s say they feel more able to open up to conversational AI than to a best friend or their mother (President Online). 【Japan's EQ, communication and AI】 The developments of the past 48 hours all relate to Japan. President Online reported the survey on young Japanese and conversational AI (President Online). In Japanese job hunting, Mirai Shukatsu passed 20,000 cumulative AI interview-practice sessions within OfferBox (PR TIMES), and Speak's 24-hour phone-call feature for English conversation was reported by Japanese outlets (Jiji.com, Tourism Media Service).

Remarks by key figures

No notable developments. 【Integrated analysis: what is happening】 The headlines show the same structure on two fronts: AI as an always-available counterpart for talking. On the emotional side, people in their teens through 30s say they can open up to conversational AI more readily than to a best friend or their mother (President Online). On the skills side, availability around the clock is the shared feature of the new tools: Speak offers phone-style AI conversation 24 hours a day (Tourism Media Service, Jiji.com), and Mirai Shukatsu has carried out more than 20,000 interview practice sessions (PR TIMES). What may change readers' judgment is that the two fronts appear to share the same drivers, immediate availability and conversation without arranging time with another person, so emotional closeness to AI and practice with AI may reinforce each other as one movement rather than two. The headlines do not show AI systems that understand emotion; they show users who report AI as easier to talk to, which appears to be a change in human behavior rather than evidence of machine empathy.

What to watch

Whether further surveys extend the finding that young users open up to conversational AI more readily than to close humans (President Online). How adoption of Speak's 24-hour phone-style AI conversation develops after launch (Tourism Media Service, Jiji.com). Whether AI speaking-practice services such as Mirai Shukatsu, now past 20,000 cumulative sessions, spread to settings beyond job interviews (PR TIMES).