Sick of misreading the tone of messages? This free AI tool will change your life

a scale with AI on one side and a brain on the other
(Image credit: Shutterstock / Sansoen Saengsakaorat)

Communicating online can be hard to navigate, not knowing when someone is joking, being passive-aggressive, or just replying bluntly to a message. With more and more people working from home, using dating apps, and speaking to their friends and family more over text than over the phone, it has become increasingly difficult not to overthink every single message without a smiley at the end - wait, is the smiley actually sarcastic?

Enter The Judge, a completely free AI tool that aims to take away any of the doubt and give you a breakdown of exactly what your boss, best friend, or the person you’re dating really meant from their message. It’s an easy-to-use tool made by the folks over at goblin.tools, and it could become your new favorite way to take advantage of artificial intelligence.

Here’s how to use The Judge to make sure you don’t misread the tone of that next message that has you asking all your friends for their thoughts.

How to use The Judge for free

Have you just received a blunt text via iMessage or a Slack message from your manager? Are you on the verge of replying with a sassy comment? Pause for a second, take a deep breath, and use this free AI tool first.

1. Ask the Judge

(Image: © Future)

Head to goblin.tools/judge and paste the message into the text field. Click Judge to get a breakdown of the message’s tone. The Judge will then give you further AI-generated information on how you should interpret the message and whether or not you could be misreading the tone.

2. Suggest a response

(Image: © Future)

Happy with the tone of the message? You can reply as normal and go ahead with your day. If you’re struggling to find the right reply, however, use The Judge to Suggest a response by clicking the “Suggest a response” button. The Judge will write a reply just like Apple Intelligence’s Smart Reply feature.

Never misread a message again

The Judge isn’t human, that’s for sure. But sometimes having an external eye on messages can prevent awkward situations and help you navigate your online social life that little bit easier. Next time you’re struggling to read the room with your Tinder match, or you need help replying professionally to your manager, think of The Judge - it’s totally free and incredibly useful. Just remember, it’s AI, so don’t take its word as gospel, otherwise, you could end up making your social interactions much, much worse.

Try The Judge for yourself, you never know it might completely change your online social skills.

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John-Anthony Disotto
Senior Writer AI

John-Anthony Disotto is TechRadar's Senior Writer, AI, bringing you the latest news on, and comprehensive coverage of, tech's biggest buzzword. An expert on all things Apple, he was previously iMore's How To Editor, and has a monthly column in MacFormat. He's based in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he worked for Apple as a technician focused on iOS and iPhone repairs at the Genius Bar. John-Anthony has used the Apple ecosystem for over a decade, and is an award-winning journalist with years of experience in editorial.

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