From Robo-Advisers to Real Robot Advisers?

Fans of human wealth management deride inexpensive, online investment services as robo-advisers. Where's the personal touch?  Where's the ability to encourage the timid, soothe the nervous and restrain the reckless?

It's coming, if not already here. As border agents, writes UNC professor Zeynep Tufekci, robot "avatars" with emotion-detecting software do a better job than humans in detecting visitors with invalid documents.

Today, machines can process regular spoken language and not only recognize human faces, but also read their expressions. They can classify personality types, and have started being able to carry out conversations with appropriate emotional tenor.

"Most of what we think of as expertise, knowledge and intuition," Tjufekci observes, "is being deconstructed and recreated as an algorithmic competency."

We'll see how far robots can go as wealth managers. Meanwhile, perhaps we should worry about their intrusion into domestic life. Husbands, beware! What woman wouldn't prefer a perceptive, sensitive companion that recognizes her every mood?