AI, EQ & Communication News — 2026-11-03 (Tue)

Overview

Over the past 48 hours, the headlines centered on AI used in conversation and customer-facing settings. Niigata City launched a 24-hour AI chat service for emotional concerns (BSN Niigata Broadcasting via Yahoo! News). Separately, a survey-style report said 50% of customers are dissatisfied with companies' "lack of empathy" (Mynavi News), and Entrepreneur ran a piece arguing emotional intelligence may become more important in the AI era (Entrepreneur).

AI that reads emotions

No notable developments. 【AI empathy and emotional intelligence】 - Niigata City began a "mental concerns AI consultation" service. It offers 24-hour chat that listens to worries and responds with empathy, and runs as a three-month pilot. The headline says only 2% of people under 20 use the phone line, and that the service is being introduced against that background (BSN Niigata Broadcasting via Yahoo! News). - Dentsu Promotion is using AI to support social media post design that emphasizes empathy and dialogue (Valuesu Inc.). - An Asahi Shimbun editorial on reading in the AI era discusses the meaning of inefficient encounters with books (Asahi Shimbun). - Mynavi News reports that 50% of customers are dissatisfied with companies' "lack of empathy," and discusses how to close three gaps in customer experience (CX) in the AI era (Mynavi News). 【Human EQ and skills in the AI era】 - Entrepreneur's headline is "AI Could Make Emotional Intelligence More Important, Not Less" (Entrepreneur). 【Changes in conversation and relationships】 No notable developments.

Words AI writes and speaks

No notable developments. (The Dentsu Promotion item on AI-supported social media post design is covered in section 3.)

Speaking practice and coaching

- A Korean outlet reports on AI chat with a real-life idol, covering the "persona" and long-term memory that support immersion (Digital Today).

Research and surveys

No notable developments. 【Japan's EQ, communication and AI】 - Vietnam.vn carried an article on promoting communication through AI suited to young people's psychology (Vietnam.vn). - AERA DIGITAL profiled Keio University students described as "language geeks," who want to convey the emotions and culture behind words. The headline says the AI era is when people should engage with language (AERA DIGITAL).

Statements by key figures

No notable developments. 【Integrated analysis: what is happening】 Several headlines share one structure: AI is being placed at points where people communicate, and the question of what remains human is raised alongside it. Niigata City's service is positioned as an alternative to a phone line that few young people use, which suggests AI chat is being designed around the channel people actually use (BSN Niigata Broadcasting via Yahoo! News). The customer survey item points to a perceived empathy gap in companies, while the Dentsu Promotion item shows AI being used to design empathetic messaging (Mynavi News, Valuesu Inc.). Together, these may indicate that "empathy" is becoming something organizations try to engineer and measure, rather than leave to individual staff. The idol chat item points to persona design and long-term memory as the features that sustain immersion in such conversations (Digital Today).

Against this, the Entrepreneur piece, the Asahi Shimbun editorial and the AERA DIGITAL profile all argue, from different angles, for human capacities such as emotional intelligence, unhurried reading and attention to language (Entrepreneur, Asahi Shimbun, AERA DIGITAL). These are opinion and feature pieces, not evidence of outcomes. The headlines contain no data on whether AI empathetic responses satisfy users, so a reader should treat the effectiveness of these services as unconfirmed.

What to watch

- Results of Niigata City's three-month pilot, including whether use among people under 20 rises beyond the phone line's 2% (BSN Niigata Broadcasting via Yahoo! News). This is a point to monitor, not a forecast. - Whether companies respond to the reported empathy gap with AI-designed communication, and whether customer satisfaction measures follow (Mynavi News, Valuesu Inc.). - Whether research or surveys emerge that test the claim that EQ gains importance in the AI era (Entrepreneur).