Microsoft CEO Nadella: 'Bots are the new apps'

SAN FRANCISCO – Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella kicked off the company's Build developers conference with a vision of the future filled with chatbots, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

“Bots are the new apps,” said Nadella during a nearly three-hour keynote here that sketched a vision for the way humans will interact with machines. “People-to-people conversations, people-to-digital assistants, people-to-bots and even digital assistants-to-bots. That’s the world you’re going to get to see in the years to come.”

Theresa Chong for USA TODAY

Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, speaks at the keynote ceremony of the Microsoft Build Developers conference.

Onstage demos hammered home those ideas. One involved a smartphone conversing with digital assistant Cortana about planning a trip to Ireland, which soon found Cortana bringing in a Westin Hotels chatbot that booked a room based on the contents of the chat.

Another featured a blind Microsoft engineer who helped design technology that allows him to take photos with a pair of smartglasses and have either a menu's contents or people's emotions described to him.

Nadella placed such human/AI interactions under an umbrella he called Conversations as a Platform. "It’s about taking the power of human language and applying it more pervasively to all of our computing," he said. "We will infuse intelligence about us and our context into computers."

The integrative AI-focused approach to the way humans interact with their digital lives comes not a moment too soon given the pressure Microsoft faces in this Conversation as a Service sector from Amazon with Alexa and Google with Google Now, says Holger Mueller, analyst with Constellation Research. "All these new conversation canvases need cloud as the delivery platform and Microsoft needs utilization to achieve economies of scale," as it builds out its own cloud storage and services function, Azure.

AFTER TAY, 'BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD'

Nadella drew a collective laugh from the 5,000 attendees when — in the context of heralding the future of bots — he acknowledged the rough start it had in the arena with an entertainment-focused chatbot just last week.

Tay, the AI-powered chatbot that was designed to talk to 18- to 24-year-olds over Twitter and Kik messaging, was up for only a day before hackers make it spew racist and anti-Semitic comments.

Microsoft apologized and took the chatbot offline. "We are back to the drawing board," he said. "Technology has to have the best of humanity, not the worst."

That led to comments from the CEO about the need for a "principled approach" to this emerging technology, an oblique reference to the big drama that recently unfolded between Apple and the FBI.

"We need to make choices about how we build technology," Nadella said. "Our design, economic and social choices must ensure that technology helps us make progress as a society."

WINDOWS 10, STILL FREE

One significant bit of news out of the morning session was that a forthcoming update to Windows 10 will be free, effectively extending the one year free trial of Microsoft's most popular operating system ever. To date, some 270 million people have downloaded Windows 10, said Windows exec Terry Myerson.

The so-called Anniversary Update for Windows 10 includes biometric ID capability to apps as well as Microsoft Edge and expanded functionality of Windows Ink, the company's digital pencil.

Microsoft's ongoing mission under Nadella's two-year stewardship to be a cloud- and mobile-first company that welcomes partnerships was in evidence at Build. One of the biggest cheers from developers came when it was announced that "the Bash shell is coming to Windows 10" for the new update, Microsoft's Kevin Gallo said. The news boils down to making it easier for Linux-based developers to build apps for Microsoft's OS.

By making it easier for developers, Microsoft is "taking something they aren't really great at, which is a mobile operating system, and leveraging their core competency, namely their Azure cloud, to get in the game," says analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights and Strategy. "Microsoft is saying (to developers), 'Hey, we're Switzerland, we know you're building for Android and iOS, but come use our tools to do the job,' and that's a way to stay a part of this revolution."

The conference also cast the spotlight on a number of Microsoft projects, including HoloLens (the $3,000 augmented reality device shipping now to developers), Cortana (which is being enhanced to interact with commercial bots) and the company's Bot Framework (which renders chatbot creation easier for developers).

Microsoft's HoloLens, which is now shipping out to developers, also is expected to draw much attendee attention at Build as Microsoft looks to them to build new applications for the augmented reality headset. The device took center stage with a demo showcasing how Case Western University professors are teaching med students with the augmented reality device

Cabinet Approves SBI Takeover Of Associate Banks

The Union Cabinet today approved the takeover by State Bank of India (SBI) of several subsidiaries, a government official said, in a first move to consolidate the country's struggling public sector banks.

As earlier proposed, SBI was to take over five of its associate banks as well as state-run Bharatiya Mahila Bank, a bank for women set up in 2013.
India's 27 public sector banks account for 70 per cent of its banking sector assets, as well as the lion's share of the country's $120 billion in troubled assets.

Policymakers want to recapitalise and consolidate the state banks so that they can extend fresh credit and help drive an investment-led recovery in Asia's third-largest economy that is now being buoyed by state and private consumption.

SBI's board had already approved the takeover of State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Travancore, as well as Bharatiya Mahila Bank.

Shares in all of the listed units rallied by between 19 and 20 percent in trading on the National Stock Exchange in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Wearables shipments to touch 213.6 million units globally by 2020: IDC

Worldwide shipments of wearable devices are expected to reach 101.9 million units by the end of 2016, representing 29% growth over 2015, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC). In a report, the research firm says that the market for wearable devices will experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.3%, culminating in 213.6 million units shipped in 2020.

"Unlike the smartphone, which consolidated multiple technologies into one device, the wearables market is a collection of disparate devices," said Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst for IDC Mobile Device Trackers. "Watches and bands are and always will be popular, but the market will clearly benefit from the emergence of additional form factors, like clothing and eyewear, that will deliver new capabilities and experiences. Eyewear has a clear focus on the enterprise as it stands to complement or replace existing computing devices, particularly for workers in the field or on the factory floor. Meanwhile, clothing will take aim at the consumer, offering the ability to capture new forms of descriptive and prescriptive data."

Two other factors driving the wearables market forward are cellular connectivity and applications.
"Cellular connectivity essentially frees the wearable from being tethered to a smartphone," said Ramon T Llamas, research manager for IDC's wearables program. According to the research firm, the immediate use case will be to make telephone calls, but it goes well beyond that. Cellular connectivity on a wearable can transmit and receive data, including time, location, and other data about a user and his or her surroundings. Imagine what that means when tracking steps, analyzing patient activity, or shopping: The information can be shared immediately with a second or third party, and the user can, in turn, receive context appropriate information back."

"The trajectory of the wearables market signals a strong opportunity for developers," Llamas continued. "Applications increase the value and utility of a wearable, and users want to see more than just their health and fitness results. News, weather, sports, social media, and Internet of Things (IoT) applications will all have a place on a wearable. And, when combined with cellular connectivity, users will not have to take out their smartphones to get the latest information. All they will need to do is glance at their wearable."