“The emotional impact of the strain of his illness is evident,” creators say

Oct 17, 2013 11:48 GMT  ·  By

Software developed by a Tel Aviv-based startup called Beyond Verbal can reportedly decode the feelings of a person when they’re speaking, based on a plurality of factors, such as tone and pitch.

To demonstrate its capabilities (though you shouldn’t interpret this as confirmation that the solution is 100% accurate), they used a Steve Jobs interview from 2010, and a more recent Tim Cook keynote address.

Of Jobs’ speech, Beyond Verbal says, “The emotional impact of the strain of his illness is evident.” The software displays terms like “loneliness” and “childish egotism” when analyzing Jobs’ voice, whereas for Tim Cook it says “Emotional control, pedantic and maintaining of boundaries.”

I don’t think it takes a genius to realize that Jobs wasn’t exactly peaking in that interview with Walt Mossberg three years ago. Cancer does that to a person. As for Cook. What CEO doesn’t express emotional control on stage?