Microsoft will spin off its XiaoIce artificial intelligence initiative as an independent venture, with the former head of its AI and Research Division, Harry Shum, as its chairman. Microsoft executive Li Di, who headed up the XiaoIce team internally at Microsoft, will be the CEO of the company.
The venture, also known as XiaoBing, is best known in China for its eponymous chatbot, which has won hundreds of millions of users in the country with its empathetic conversational approach.
Microsoft said in a statement that the spinoff aims to “accelerate the pace of local innovation of the Xiaobing product line” and the commercial ecosystem around it. Microsoft will retain an unspecified ownership interest in the venture. The spinoff is slated to take place over the next few months, according to the company.
