AI, EQ & Communication News — 2026-10-26 (Mon) Daily News

Overview

Voice AI and conversation were the main movers in the past 48 hours: Block announced a conversational voice AI called "Dessa" and early coverage focused on how human it sounds (Yahoo! News Japan, TechnoEdge, TheStreet). Futurism reported that ChatGPT is building detailed psychological profiles of its users (Futurism). Mainichi Shimbun reported that AI-bot-style speech is spreading among people (Mainichi Shimbun).

AI that reads emotion

No notable developments. 【AI empathy and emotional intelligence】 - Mainichi Shimbun reported that an AI-bot-style way of speaking is spreading among humans (Mainichi Shimbun). 【Human EQ and skills in the AI era】 No notable developments. 【Changes in conversation and relationships】 - Futurism reported that ChatGPT is building detailed psychological profiles of its users, under the headline "ChatGPT Is Building Detailed Psychological Profiles of Its Users" (Futurism). - TheStreet reported that Jack Dorsey's new AI voice assistant sounds human, under the headline "Jack Dorsey's new AI voice assistant sounds human. Too human." (TheStreet). - Block announced "Dessa," a conversational AI trained from scratch on voice alone, which speaks while it listens (Yahoo! News Japan). - TechnoEdge reported that Dessa, announced by Jack Dorsey's Block, handles emotion and pauses in conversation naturally (TechnoEdge).

Words AI writes and speaks

No notable developments.

Speaking practice and coaching

- Nativecamp released a new feature called "AI Review," in which AI corrects the English a learner spoke in a lesson, and learners can review by talking with an AI instructor (PR TIMES). - FENNEL and Persol Xtech announced a plan to visualize and quantify in-game conversation using AI (Dellows News).

Research and surveys

No notable developments. 【Japan's EQ, communication and AI】 - SmartFLASH ran a piece on "three patterns" to build into AI dialogue, and on the ability to ask good questions in a world flooded with answers (SmartFLASH). - The brain-training app BrainTQ added AI voice dialogue support and an English version (AppBank).

Statements by key figures

No notable developments. 【Integrated analysis: what is happening】 Several items point to voice becoming the main interface for AI conversation. Block's Dessa is described as handling emotion and pauses and as listening and speaking at the same time (TechnoEdge, Yahoo! News Japan). BrainTQ and Nativecamp also add AI voice dialogue or spoken-English review (AppBank, PR TIMES). This likely means the quality of spoken interaction, not just text, is becoming the point of competition.

A second pattern is that conversation with AI and the data it generates appear to go together. Futurism's report on psychological profiling, set beside voice assistants that sound "human. Too human." (TheStreet), suggests that the more natural the conversation, the more personal information may be exchanged. This is inference; the headlines do not say the two are linked.

A third pattern is influence running from AI to people. Mainichi Shimbun reports that AI-bot-style speech is spreading among humans (Mainichi Shimbun), and SmartFLASH discusses the ability to ask questions as answers become abundant (SmartFLASH). Taken together, these may indicate that how people speak and what they are expected to do in conversation are both shifting. The headlines alone do not establish how large these effects are.

What to watch

- Whether details of Dessa's performance and release terms emerge, and how the "too human" reaction develops (inference). - Whether more reporting or responses follow on ChatGPT's reported psychological profiling of users. - Whether spoken-language practice and AI voice dialogue features keep spreading across learning and app services in Japan.