What Will Siri's Kids be Like? Chatty and Much Smarter

Siri may be able to tell you the capital of Kazakhstan and show you the city's weather forecast -- but her descendents will be able to book the flight that gets you there. Technology under development for "bots" focuses on back-and-forth conversation, a new phenomenon that essentially gives the sensation of a computer standing in a room, aware of its surroundings and offering feedback. "Typically, what happens with Siri is you ask a question and you get an answer," said Next IT chief technology officer Chuck Wooters. "You are having a conversation, but a limited one." That will change as bots, connected nearly every hour of everyday through mobile devices, learn from their users by retaining search history and processing trends.