Alexa Could Offer A Lot Of Useful Tips For Bing's Chatbot

The creepy chatbot from Microsoft could benefit from a history lesson. But first…

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Stump the robot

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As early testers of Microsoft Corp.'s new Bing chatbot popped all kinds of oddball messages at it, they explored the limits of the bot's artificial intelligence capabilities as they explored its capabilities. In some cases, the machine has responded by delivering answers that are sentient-sounding, ranging from combative or flirtatious to downright creepy.

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In the midst of these interactions - clearly intended to stump or get a rise out of Bing - Microsoft has found itself in an awkward position. Bing should consider some lessons from Alexa and Siri, the two ancestors of Bing's chatbots when it comes to how to move forward from here.

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Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. were heralded as the pioneers of a new form of computing about a decade ago when they introduced their voice assistants. The Amazon Echo speaker or an iPhone equipped with Siri could be listening constantly, learning speech patterns, and constantly improving to make the internet search process more efficient. Amazon's CEO, Jeff Bezos, has said that the company's goal is to make Alexa as smart and interactive as Star Trek's computer system.

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Reviewers of the Echo, which was released to the public in 2015, were generally baffled by the device when they first tried it. During the beta tests of Bing's artificial intelligence, some people treated their interactions with Alexa as if they were playing the game of stumping the robot. As for the deeper and more bizarre topics, those included whether Alexa could define the meaning of life, express desires, or even offer tips on how to dispose of a dead body, among many others.

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In comparison to ChatGPT, these voice assistants seem rather quaint. Voice-activated computing did take off but it didn't quite live up to the hype that surrounded it. People no longer bother testing the limits of Alexa or its kin due to the numerous unsatisfactory interactions that they have had with them in the past.

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Most of the time, they are used for a variety of basic but essential tasks we all have to perform on a daily basis, such as setting kitchen timers, playing music, checking the weather, etc. Amazon's ambitions for the product may seem incremental at first, but it is clear that they have much larger plans for the product. Timers, music, and weather forecasts are all things that are needed on a daily basis, so we can say that the Echo has alleviated a lot of annoyances.

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The goal of any technology should be to fill a need. It was Microsoft's right to recognize that a robotic companion for long, personal conversations isn't really necessary after a batch of reviewers had weird experiences with Bing's AI, in which the chatbot professed its love for one reporter and compared another to Hitler. The company is tightening guardrails as part of its damage control measures. ChatGPT, which shares some DNA with Bing's chatbot, is a chatbot that shares some of the DNA of OpenAI, which claims it is working on reducing biases and errors.

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The strangeness of Bing will probably persist for some time as it interacts with wider audiences, who will ask it ever more eclectic questions as it interacts with them. In the future, when the initial novelty wears off, Microsoft will have to focus its efforts on perfecting more incremental, mass-appeal capabilities of its artificial intelligence, just as Amazon did with its Alexa assistant.

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It was stated by Microsoft that it has received requests for simple and boring features, such as help booking flights and sending emails, and the Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, has suggested that similar tools will be added to Microsoft Office in order for to reduce some of the drudgery associated with life and work.

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Even though living on the Starship Enterprise isn't quite the same as having a smart Clippy, it sure makes writing easier.

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The big story

It has been announced that Microsoft has signed a 10-year deal with Nintendo to acquire the flagship Call of Duty game. Additionally, the company made it clear that there will be no $69 billion deal to acquire Activision Blizzard without the flagship game.

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Get fully charged

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Several hundred million dollars could be the value of the combined company if a Peter Thiel-backed SPAC merges with a fintech company called Hyphen Group, which has a valuation of several hundred million dollars.

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As a replacement for WiFi inside offices, Amazon has teamed up with T-Mobile and other wireless carriers to provide private 5G wireless services to its business customers.

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The Central Bank of Nigeria is in talks with potential technology partners to develop software for its eNaira digital currency.

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After Beijing backed off from a brutal crackdown on the Chinese tech industry, renewed competition has fuelled concerns over industry margins.