Microsoft acquires conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Bot Development Company

Microsoft acquires conversational Artificial Intelligence

Question: Microsoft has acquired which of the following conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Bot Development Company?
(a) Iris Al
(b) XOXCO
(c) CloudMinds 
(d) IBM
Answer: (b)
Related facts:

  • In view of upgrading efficiency, Microsoft notified to acquire a conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) and bot development company XOXCO.
  • XOXCO is a Texas based software product design and development studio founded in 2008 by Ben Brown and Katie Spence.
  • XOXCO has been working on conversational Artificial Intelligence development since 2013.
  • After completion of acquisition, XOXCO will be the fourth AI-focused company to join Microsoft. Others include Semantic Machines, Bonsai, and Lobe.





About Artificial Intelligence (AI) and bot development:

  • Bot is a computer program which conducts a conversation via auditory or textual methods with humans.
  • Specifically, a bot is an application that performs an automated task, such as setting an alarm, telling you the weather or searching online. Bots can help us order food, shop for clothes, save money and find restaurants for the sake of human convenience.
  • Chatbots are typically used in dialog systems (computer system to converse with human)for various practical purposes including customer service or information acquisition.




  • Siri, Cortana, Tay, Microsoft’s Clippy and AOL Instant Messenger’s  Smarter Child are such types of bots.

Links:

https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2018/11/14/microsoft-to-acquire-xoxco-bringing-together-leading-bot-development-communities-to-help-advance-conversational-ai/
http://xoxco.com/news/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatbot
https://in.pcmag.com/networking-communications-software/127002/microsoft-acquires-conversational-ai-firm-xoxco