Microsoft to acquire XOXCO to bolster push for conversational AI

Microsoft has made no secret of the fact that it has its sights set on AI as the future of computing. Nowhere has that been more obvious over the past year than in its acquisition targets, which have largely focused on a variety of companies that have significant experience in pushing AI forward, and Microsoft's latest acquisition is no different.

Microsoft today announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire XOXCO, a company that has focused on pushing forward conversational AI and bot development. In fact, XOXCO was responsible for Howdy, the first commercially available bot for Slack, which uses conversational AI to help schedule meetings. XOXCO also developed Botkit to give developers the tools to build their own bots.

From Microsoft:

We have shared goals to foster a community of startups and innovators, share best practices and continue to amplify our focus on conversational AI, as well as to develop tools for empowering people to create experiences that do more with speech and language.

Once the acquisition is completed, XOXCO will be the fourth AI-focused company to join Microsoft over the last six months. Others include Semantic Machines, Bonsai, and Lobe.

The end goal, Microsoft says, is to make AI and its development accessible to everyone. Microsoft's biggest emphasis is on making AI more natural and conversational, but the company is also working to put the tools to foster AI growth in developers' hands – something that was bolstered by Microsoft's recently completed GitHub acquisition.