On this page you’ll learn a bit how emotion recognition software can analyze dialogue and communication. We share these educational pieces with our academic and commercial partners so that they can get a better understanding of communication and how our understanding of it influences results.

Occasionally, we’ll try to analyze a piece of media to demonstrate for educational purposes how VERN works in the field. We usually try to find the most universally known works of art so that we can demonstrate emotives present as most of us would perceive them.

Since most of us alive now know the smash hit “Friends” (which is enjoying a much-deserved renaissance), we thought we’d show a small snippet of how VERN would analyze an episode. And that being said, millions of people are familiar with the characters and have related to them in the past.

We are using an Small example of dialogue from the NBC hit comedy “Friends “, a superbly written ensemble comedy to show how VERN AI can detect the difference in emotion from each character. The series is now streaming on HBO Max and here’s how you can access that in a recent article in Harper’s Bazaar.

The episode in question is Season 1, Episode 1, entitled: 101 – “The One Where Monica Gets a New Roommate” written by Marta Kauffman & David Crane, from transcription available here.

Working with leading universities, scholars and labs, it is our hope that VERN AI will someday help break down the communication wall between children with Autism; help fight adolescent depression; assist in flagging risky communication, and much more. Using this fair-use analysis of the “Friends” script gives an example how we can identify emotion through words and Latent clues within a sentence, using characters people already know and love.

[Scene: Central Perk, Chandler, Joey, Phoebe, and Monica are there.]
Monica: There’s nothing to tell! He’s just some guy I work with! (sadness: 33 anger: 51 humor: 66)
Joey: C’mon, you’re going out with the guy! There’s gotta be something wrong with him! ( sadness: 33 anger: 51 humor: 51)
Chandler: All right Joey, be nice.  So does he have a hump? A hump and a hairpiece? ( sadness: 0 anger: 0 humor: 51)
Phoebe: Wait, does he eat chalk? ( sadness: 0 anger: 0 humor: 12.5)
Phoebe: Just, ’cause, I don’t want her to go through what I went through with Carl- oh! ( sadness: 12.5 anger: 51 humor: 66)
Monica: Okay, everybody relax. This is not even a date. It’s just two people going out to dinner and- not having sex. ( sadness: 0 anger: 12.5 humor: 51)
Chandler: Sounds like a date to me. ( sadness: 12.5 anger: 12.5 humor: 33)
Chandler: Alright, so I’m back in high school, I’m standing in the middle of the cafeteria, and I realize I am totally naked. ( sadness: 12.5 anger: 12.5 humor: 51)
All: Oh, yeah. Had that dream. ( sadness: 0 anger: 0 humor: 0)
Chandler: Then I look down, and I realize there’s a phone… there. ( sadness: 33 anger: 12.5 humor: 66)
Joey: Instead of…?
Chandler: That’s right. ( sadness: 0 anger: 12.5 humor: 12.5)
Joey: Never had that dream.
Phoebe: No. ( sadness: 0 anger: 33 humor: 0)
Chandler: All of a sudden, the phone starts to ring. Now I don’t know what to do, everybody starts looking at me. ( sadness: 33 anger: 51 humor: 80)
Monica: And they weren’t looking at you before?! ( sadness: 12.5 anger: 12.5 humor: 12.5)
Chandler: Finally, I figure I’d better answer it, and it turns out it’s my mother, which is very-very weird, because- she never calls me! ( sadness: 51 anger: 97 humor: 80)
Ross: (mortified) Hi.
Joey: This guy says hello, I wanna kill myself. ( sadness: 12.5 anger: 12.5 humor: 12.5)
Monica: Are you okay, sweetie? ( sadness: 12.5 anger: 12.5 humor: 12.5)
Ross: I just feel like someone reached down my throat, grabbed my small intestine, pulled it out of my mouth and tied it around my neck… ( sadness: 51 anger: 51 humor: 98)
Chandler: Cookie?
Monica: (explaining to the others) Carol moved her stuff out today. ( sadness: 0 anger: 0 humor: 0)
Joey: Ohh.
Monica: (to Ross) Let me get you some coffee. ( sadness: 33 anger: 33 humor: 51)
Ross: Thanks.
Phoebe: Ooh! Oh! (She starts to pluck at the air just in front of Ross.) ( sadness: 0 anger: 0 humor: 33)
Ross: No, no don’t! Stop cleansing my aura! No, just leave my aura alone, okay? ( sadness: 51 anger: 33 humor: 51)
Phoebe: Fine!  Be murky! ( anger: 51 sadness: 12.5 humor: 51)
Ross: I’ll be fine, alright? Really, everyone. I hope she’ll be very happy. ( sadness: 51 anger: 33 humor: 80)
Monica: No you don’t. ( sadness: 12.5 anger: 51 humor: 12.5)
Ross: No I don’t, to hell with her, she left me! ( sadness: 51 anger: 66 humor: 51)
Joey: And you never knew she was a lesbian… ( sadness: 12.5 anger: 51 humor: 12.5)
Ross: No!! Okay?! Why does everyone keep fixating on that? She didn’t know, how should I know? ( sadness: 33 anger: 33 humor: 51)
Chandler: Sometimes I wish I was a lesbian… (They all stare at him.) Did I say that out loud? ( sadness: 33 anger: 12.5 humor: 12.5)
Ross: I told mom and dad last night, they seemed to take it pretty well. ( sadness: 12.5 anger: 12.5 humor: 66)
Monica: Oh really, so that hysterical phone call I got from a woman at sobbing 3:00 A.M., “I’ll never have grandchildren, I’ll never have grandchildren.” was what?  A wrong number? ( sadness: 33 anger: 90 humor: 80)
Ross: Sorry. ( sadness: 12.5 anger: 12.5 humor: 0)
Joey: Alright Ross, look. You’re feeling a lot of pain right now. You’re angry. You’re hurting. Can I tell you what the answer is? ( sadness: 51 anger: 90 humor: 98)
( sadness: 0 humor: 0 anger: 12.5)
(Ross gestures his consent.)
Joey: Strip joint! C’mon, you’re single! Have some hormones! ( sadness: 12.5 anger: 33 humor: 33)