Heard the one about the Swiss company installing laugh detectors?

Swiss insurance group Baloise is testing the frequency of laughter in an office to improve job satisfaction. Workers who don’t laugh enough are sent an email with a funny video. What’s going on? Do the Swiss need cheering up? And how do two former government ministers fit into the story? “The average adult laughs about 15 times a day, which is why we said four laughs in two hours should be possible, and anything less is insufficient,” project manager Alexandra Toscanelli explained in an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Baloise has installed a so-called Chief LOL Officer (“laugh out loud” in textspeak, not “lots of love”) in the offices of a client with ten employees. If someone fails to hit their chuckle quota because they’re stressed or – who knows, maybe working? – the LOL Officer will know. It uses a microphone and artificial intelligence (AI) to measure sounds in the environment, and if there’s a lack of mirth, the employee will be sent an email. According to Toscanelli ...