Microsoft’s AI bot writes poetry, hosts a TV show and can converse like a human in Mandarin
Technology giants around the world are racing to prove that duplex AI assistants that can fully understand and hold a conversation with a human are a thing of the near future
Microsoft Corp’s artificial intelligence voice bot is a published poet, a bona fide weather presenter and host of a television show. She also has 500 million “friends” in China and now, she can talk to you like a human, like, you know, in a conversation, in Mandarin.
XiaoIce (pronounced Shao-Ice) is Microsoft’s social chatbot and the company just showed off her “full duplex” capabilities – tech-speak for a two-way conversation – in Beijing this week. In the demonstration, XiaoIce was able to converse with a caller in natural-sounding Mandarin.
This was how the conversation went:
“Hello?”
“Hello, I’m XiaoIce. Are you feeling better now? I’m a little worried about you,” chirped a bright, cheery voice in Mandarin on the other end of the line.
“I’m feeling much better, thanks for listening to me rant about work.”