Can AI tell us if those Zoom calls are flowing smoothly? New study gives a thumbs up
Reports and Proceedings
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 9-Sep-2025 09:11 ET (9-Sep-2025 13:11 GMT/UTC)
A team of NYU scientists has developed an AI model that can identify aspects of human behavior in videoconferences, such as conversational turn-taking and facial actions, and predict, in real-time, whether or not the meetings are seen as enjoyable and fluid—comfortable and flowing rather than awkward and marked by stilted turn-taking—based on these behaviors.
As erratic weather upends the seasonal rhythms that crops depend on, farmers in Madagascar are feeling the effects but struggle to adapt to the new normal. That’s according to a rsurvey of nearly 500 small-scale farmers in the country’s northern Sava region, which produces about two thirds of the world’s vanilla beans. Nearly all farmers in the area are experiencing changes in temperature and rainfall, but remarkably few are altering their farming practices to adapt.