Microsoft Updates and News 2016: Office 365 to Infuse AI-Powered Bot Called Genee; Services and How it Works
Just when you thought Microsoft Office 365 couldn't get any smarter, it suddenly summons a Genee.
No, not that genee. Microsoft announced that it acquired Genee, a scheduling assistant bot that aims to simplify the consuming task of planning and organizing your schedule, appointments, among others. Kind of like a glorified secretary - that is if your secretary ever ran on artificial intelligence.
The latest in a string of updates for Office 365, Microsoft will be plugging the bot into its productivity suite, in line with its goal to add AI in every digital experience, said Rajesh Jha, corporate vice president of Office 365.
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How it works
Genee is primarily a chatbot and it can be accessed via iPhone, email, SMS, or even social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter or Skype. It can also work on planning meetings for large groups.
According to Microsoft's blog, it uses natural language input and optimized decision-making algorithms so you can just text or email your event or appointment, when you want it scheduled and who else is invited, and it should theoretically be able to provide you with a meeting schedule.
Microsoft generously illustrated an example: if you want to meet a customer over coffee, you can send an email to him/her with Genee cc'ed and the bot will sift through the email for the key requirements of that meeting. It will then search through your calendar and preferences so it can send your customer appropriate options that could work.
Plus, it will even send out a meeting invite and all that while you mind something else. Planning has never been that hassle-free!
Genee services
In a separate blog post, Genee co-founders Ben Cheung and Charles Lee announced that the standalone service will be shut down on September 1, 2016, following the acquisition.
The AI-powered bot was launched in public beta a year ago.
While Genee will no longer be able to send reminders and agendas from the calendar, all existing entries created by Genee will stay, Cheung and Lee said. They also expressed their appreciation and excitement in working with Microsoft and looked forward to bringing their cutting-edge research to the team.
Both parties did not disclose the terms of the deal, so there's no word out yet on about Genee's availability in the suite.
Genee joins the line-up of other high-end AI that has made its way into common devices, such as Apple's Siri, Google's Alphabet Now, and its Microsoft sibling, Cortana.
