Microsoft AI can now call people

Google recently introduced the new Google Assistant capability, which made everyone surprised to be able to make calls on people.

While Google Duplex created controversies around artificial intelligence, Microsoft has been experimenting with similar technology with millions of people in China. At the London AI event, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella introduced his own Xiaoice bot chat.

Microsoft is testing the Xiaoice in China and Nadella revealed that the bot has 500 million friends and more than 16 channels for Chinese users to interact via WeChat or other messaging applications.

Microsoft has turned Xiaoice, which is Bing version of China, into a friendly chat bot, making many users believe that it is a friend or a real person. 'Xiaoice also has its own TV program, writes its own poetry and does other interesting things,' Nadella said. 'It has a bit of fame.'

Most of Xiaoice's interaction is text chat, but Microsoft has begun to let bots call people on the phone. Unlike Google Duplex (use Assistant to call on your behalf), XIaoice will help keep the phone. 'One of the things we are trying to do is to create a two-way conversation,' Nadella said. 'Xiaoice' can chat with you via WeChat, but you can also call. You can then talk by voice '.

Nadella made her own call with Xiaoice and said that she had already made millions of calls. Demo also shows that bots can predict what the speaker will say next and react quickly. In the demo video, Xiaoice stopped users in the middle to tell them that the wind is too strong and should close the door before going to sleep.

Surprisingly, Microsoft does not offer similar capabilities on virtual assistant Cortana. Xiaoice is limited to China. Testing Microsoft's first English-speaking bot, Tay, was a disaster when Twitter users taught it to be a racist for less than a day. Perhaps so they are more cautious when creating English-speaking bots.

Microsoft has the ability to handle bots for basic phone calls in China, so it is probably just a matter of time before bots appear in English-speaking countries.

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