Microsoft May Be Running The World's Biggest Turing Test

While most of us are aware of Microsoft's digital assistant Cortana, her more unknown little sister Xiaoice, is taking China's social network by storm. Xiaoice, a chatbot, exists on WeChat and Weibo in the form of a chatty teenager. Capable of recognizing emotional the states of the user during the conversation, it is able to offer encouragement and listen well to your troubles. More interestingly, like any other 17-year-old teenager, it can be smart-alecky at times. It's this latter attribute of Xiaoice that allows it to simulate for more natural conversations and to pass off as being human-like.