Text / Bai Xin
Microsoft Xiaona is three years old, but Microsoft has been a veteran technology company for 42 years. In the wave of AI giants, Xiaona has become an essential part of Microsoft's AI strategy.
During an interview with NetEase, Yu Baogang, Executive Vice President of the Asian Internet Engineering Institute at Microsoft, who leads the Bing and Xiaona project and product teams, shared insights about Xiaona and the Microsoft AI team behind it.
The New Version of Xiaona Focuses on Efficiency and Work Scenarios
When Xiaona was first launched, the smart assistant market hadn't yet gained significant traction. Today, major tech giants are scrambling to develop their own smart assistants. Facing the growing market, the latest version of Xiaona features a new interface design, a convenient reminder list, and an improved settings interface. For the first time on the iOS platform, Xiaona offers a lock screen plugin function. Xiaona accounts and Microsoft Office software accounts can now be seamlessly integrated. The new version of Xiaona can also intelligently analyze email semantics. Using machine learning, Xiaona can extract key information from emails and prompt users to set reminders accordingly. These features demonstrate that Xiaona's focus is shifting from daily life scenes to work-related scenarios, aiming to offer users smarter office support.
Xiaona also has the capability to understand email semantics, extracting important and relevant information for prompts.
Unlike Amazon, Google, or Apple, which have focused on smart speakers or single-platform applications, Microsoft is exploring broader AI applications. Xiaona now boasts 145 million users globally. Regarding rumors about Microsoft launching its own smart speaker, Zhai Baogang confirmed that it will be released in the U.S. this fall.
In the face of competition, Yu Baogang highlighted Xiaona's three key advantages: AI technology, business user work scenarios, and Bing.
First, the true strength of a virtual assistant lies in its backend capabilities and how well it integrates with various terminals. Xiaona has accumulated three years of data and user feedback. I'm more confident in this aspect;
Second, Xiaona is positioned to enhance efficiency. Its aim is to make your work easier and life more efficient. This approach aligns with Microsoft's traditional investments in productivity tools, as our corporate user base is extensive. Compared to our peers in this space, I believe this is a strong differentiator for us. It’s also tied to factors like our company culture, customer base, and investments. I think it can be closely aligned. This is something many of our competitors overlook;
Third, Bing holds the second-largest share of search engines in the U.S. Beyond providing search services, search engines play a crucial role in AI, acting as a source of knowledge. If a product can't fully address user queries, the depth and breadth of its knowledge base become critical. Thanks to Bing’s search engine, we’ve built a comprehensive knowledge graph over the years. This is what makes a smart device truly intelligent—it needs to answer many of the user's questions. The breadth and depth of answers are tightly coupled with this knowledge graph, making it a distinct advantage for our smart assistant.
Microsoft Xiaona represents Microsoft's understanding of intelligent technology. In Microsoft's AI strategy, Xiaona is a key component of its future AI layout. The application and popularization of AI require three areas of knowledge: understanding the world, understanding work, and understanding users. Xiaona is evolving and developing in these directions, and Microsoft will continue to invest heavily in R&D.
How will Microsoft leverage this AI opportunity?
On July 20th of this year, the State Council issued a new generation of AI development plan, proposing that by 2020, China's overall technology and application of AI will be on par with the world's advanced levels. The AI industry will become a new economic growth point, and initial AI technology standards and services will be established. In the ecosystem and industrial chain, the core AI industry will exceed 150 billion yuan, driving the related industries to surpass 1 trillion yuan.
Regarding the state's decision to elevate AI to a national strategy, Yu Baogang expressed excitement and optimism. "I actually worked on similar projects in college, focusing on BP neural networks and training. With the breakthroughs in data, computation, and algorithms over the years, it feels like everything is finally coming together. It's a very fortunate feeling."
"When Xiaona was launched, there weren't many AI applications. Microsoft can be considered a pioneer in the AI wave. Over the past few years, Microsoft's investment in AI has been highly focused." "At the company level, AI has become a very important strategic division for Microsoft. Last October, we specifically integrated several different product divisions under Dr. Shenxiang Xiang's leadership. This department, dedicated to AI research, employs thousands of people and has global teams working on it. At the beginning of this year, we further expanded Xiaona's AI assistant team. From the resources and emphasis placed on this initiative, you can see that this has been a deepening process over the past few years."
With players entering the market, domestic giants like BAT and Lenovo have also expressed interest in transforming and expanding their AI layouts. Regarding this, Yu Baogang commented: "Having so many industry partners working together is a very positive thing. I think there are several reasons for this: First, the acceptance of any new technology by the public is a gradual process that requires the collective effort of the entire industry. From the user's perspective, there is a slow but steady acceptance process. Additionally, while there have been many breakthroughs in AI, I feel the overall level of technology is still in its infancy. I believe it's not something one company can achieve alone. Another point is that for AI to succeed, it requires not only technological breakthroughs but also advancements in talent and application scenarios. We are now very concerned about how we can make AI, like Xiaona, help our work and life and apply it to various platforms and across multiple scenarios, such as smart hardware and augmented reality. Having partners in the industry working together makes it more likely to achieve breakthroughs, so I find this very exciting. I'm proud that Microsoft was able to lead this trend a few years ago, and I hope we can have more cooperation in this area in the future."
The booming market inevitably leads to competition for talent. In the first half of this year, many domestic companies like BAT have recruited AI talents from Microsoft, known as the "Whampoa Military Academy." Baidu hired Lu Qi, and Tencent recruited Yu Dong. Regarding this, Yu Baogang commented: "The competition for talent is inevitable in the IT field. I think it's both good and bad. While the situation you mentioned exists, the reverse is also true. In fact, we've also had many colleagues from BAT join us recently. As I mentioned earlier, the development of AI to this day has made everyone more involved in AI, which I think is a good thing. I've noticed that many Chinese experts are publishing papers at international conferences, and their numbers and quality are increasing. Overall, it's a good thing for the industry. There was an article in the past about Microsoft's engineering academicians being referred to as the 'Whampoa Military Academy' in the industry. I think that's quite positive, and I believe as a company contributing to this IT community, it's a good thing. Now that we've welcomed many former colleagues, I think it's all a positive development. Then I want to say that talent exchange happens in both directions. We actually have many people coming from BAT, and there are many others coming from other companies."
Can Voice Assistants Replace WeChat?
There is no doubt that voice assistants have not yet been widely adopted in China. The concept itself originated abroad. Every time at Google or Apple events, we always see references to "Hey Siri" and "OK Google."
In terms of developing habits, what lessons can we learn from abroad? Zang Baogang thinks: "People's living habits vary between countries and cannot be directly copied. AI assistants must excel in personalization. Tailoring usage scenarios for individual users is crucial; otherwise, the limitations will be significant."
Zhai Baogang provided an example of using smart speakers in foreign markets. "I know that smart speakers in foreign countries, like Amazon's Echo, are often used in the kitchen. Alexa, the voice interaction system, is frequently placed in the kitchen because people's lives revolve around that area. But if this scenario is applied in China, it won't work. I haven't seen any speakers that are as extensively used in the U.S. market here in China. Given the differences in eating and cooking habits between China and the U.S., replicating this scenario in China might pose problems. I think there will be different scenarios that suit China better. However, I don't think there's a single answer to what the best scenario is for China. It may depend on the specific devices and their results. The same scene that works in the U.S. doesn't necessarily make sense in another European country, and I don't think it makes sense to copy it directly to China due to our unique eating and cooking habits."
As the head of Xiaona's mobile team, Zang Baogang also shared his development insights with NetEase. "My strongest impression about AI is that it's very difficult to solve all problems with an assistant. You must find a foothold. Since December 2016, we've emphasized efficiency. Initially, we tried things like telling jokes and singing songs. I think Xiaona's position is efficiency, but this doesn't mean it only handles work issues. People are busy in life, so Xiaona helps improve efficiency in various areas. Identifying the product's positioning is key, and once you do, you shouldn't stop. I think this is the biggest takeaway. The other thing is that AI is a very challenging endeavor."
Every product and service from Microsoft is infused with AI, from Xbox to Windows, from Bing search to Office. Microsoft aims to make AI ubiquitous, integrating it into the lives and production of more people and companies.
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