Earlier this month, MIT debuted Baxter, a robot that can read people's mind by reading brain impulses. Now, a startup tech company has introduced an AI-powered chatbot named Nadia, which can read emotions and speak like Cate Blanchett.

Nadia is a virtual chatbot developed by Soul Machines, a tech startup based in New Zealand which specializes in developing human-like avatars. And with human-like, it means that their chatbots have almost human-like facial features giving the impression as if users are talking with a real person on the computer.

Aside from human-like facial features, their avatars have the ability to recognize emotional and vocal expressions in real-time. Their goal is to humanize the interaction between humans and machines and Nadia is one of them.

According to the Soul Machines blog, Nadia is equipped with emotional intelligence allowing her to connect with people on a much deeper emotional level than the ordinary chatbot. And because it is powered with AI, Nadia learns through experience. That means the more she interacts with people, the more her knowledge grows and the better she responds.

Nadia is the brainchild of Mark Sagar, the CEO of Soul Machines and also a professor at the University of Auckland. He already has an extensive experience on facial motion capture having won Academy Awards for his works on King Kong and Avatar.

If listeners think that Nadia sounds like Cate Blanchett, that's because the award-winning actress was the voice behind the chatbot. The actress expressed her excitement over the project saying how happy she is to be part of a worthwhile project. That's because Nadia will help people with disabilities in Australia.

Nadia is just the beginning because Soul Machines is planning to develop similar chatbots in the future. Thus, it won't come as a surprise if in the future, the next customer service representative people will be talking to are AI-powered chatbots with high emotional intelligence.