Why a Chatbot Creeped Out Microsoft's AI-Focused CEO

In February, Microsoft Corp. Vice President Derrick Connell visited the Bing search team in Hyderabad, India, to oversee a Monday morning hackathon. The goal was to build bots--artificial intelligence programs that chat with users to automate things like shopping and customer service. Connell's boss, Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella, thinks they're the next big thing, a successor to apps. The Bing team was so excited they showed up Sunday night to throw a party and brought their spouses and kids. There was even the Indian version of a piñata.