"Us+ creator Lauren McCarthy, an artist and programmer at New York University, told me that the tension her technology creates was part of her intent" what??

So the intent was to create an app that frustrates people and shows them "that there are things the computer can’t do as well as a human". We have this experience I'd argue the majority of time with computers anyway, the whole point is breaking down that barrier. So if her statements are not a joke its just bad software design.

Otherwise, the concept of realtime communication aid seems ridiculous IMO. Do we really need a software buffer between us and another human in order to communicate better? I still prefer talking to people on the phone as compared to chat, and face-to-face over the phone, I'd assert you always loose information once you add buffers between two communicating parties.