Microsoft to give Xiaoice a ‘personality’

Source: Xinhua | 2018-07-27

MICROSOFT Corp is expanding its artificial intelligence services in China with an upgrade for AI chatbot assistant Xiaoice and a new partnership with top local firms, it said yesterday.

Xiaoice, with 660 million users around the world, is getting one of the biggest technology upgrades in China today, which will make it more interactive as an “emotional companion and assistant,” said Harry Shum, Microsoft executive vice president of AI and research.

Microsoft also announced new partnerships with Huawei, Xiaomi, Tencent and NetEase on smart devices, online music, news and digital entertainment services.

“AI has huge potential in the regional markets that have populations of more than 100 million,” Chum said.

Xiaoice is used on Huawei and Xiaomi smartphones and NetEase’s online music and news services. Microsoft will also seek opportunities to commercialize AI services in the media and publishing industries.

Google, Apple and Qualcomm are also investing heavily in AI in China, which is targeting an AI industry with a core market worth more than 150 billion yuan (US$22 billion) by 2020.