Microsoft AI chatbot released a collection of clothes for China
Created by Microsoft AI Xiaoice , the most popular chatbot in China, now knows how to create real patterns and images. A couple of weeks ago, the machine presented the results of its work at an exhibition in Beijing. They are based on words, themes or key colors, the popularity of which the girl-robot learns by the results of her communication with hundreds of millions of Chinese.
Microsoft partners were the Chinese Textile Information Center and the China Textile Development Center, which will help bring products to the market. It is expected that the new collection of patterns and designs, the first fully self-created AI, will be available to the Chinese in early 2019. Designers and large manufacturers say that this technology will allow them to change the process of preparing clothes for the market.
Lee Bin Hong, President of the China Textile Development Center (CTDC), spoke about his impressions of Xiaoice:
The rapid creation of such artworks that cause a response from the audience is very important. I am pleased to know that this system can develop immaculate projects in a matter of minutes, incorporating all the latest fashion trends. So we can attract the attention of the younger generation, who can not imagine their lives without Xiaoice.
In an industry where trends can change from day to day, only AI's capabilities can allow us to stay ahead of the competition. With it, we will be able to produce creative, highly artistic collections in record time.
Opportunities Xiaoice to create "creative" work the Chinese call a real breakthrough. Her artistic compositions are created in the image and likeness of other works - but the same can be said about a person who was "inspired" by someone else's projects. A chatbot girl chooses what she likes most of all from the world she sees through the lens of her communication. She assesses what is usually mentioned in a positive context, checks with which emotions one or another color or pattern is associated. And creates something that she thought might become popular.
Xu Yuan Chun, Microsoft representative on the Asian market, commented:
With the increasing speed of introducing AI into various business areas, Microsoft is constantly looking for ways to apply its technologies. Our new development is able to create valuable content in various forms - from audio and text to patterns and images. We hope that the ability of Xiaoice will be in demand in various industries, including the fashion industry.
After four years of training, Xiaoice learned to understand the objects, shapes, colors and textures of real-world objects. She also knows how to accurately determine the positions of objects relative to each other. This allows it to independently create abstract spatial images and draw the outlines of objects. Xiaoice also became an expert in working with brushes and shadows. This helps the work, completely out of the "brain" of the computer, look more natural.
In addition to her designs, Xiaoice composed short poems that were shown below her works.
Figure (and poem) Xiaoice. What do you see? Sailboats on the Aral Sea?
So far it is difficult to say how successful the projects of Xiaoice are. Before her work at the exhibition is crowded, and the Internet is actively discussing designs. But maybe the point is not in the quality of the works themselves, but in the popularity of their creator. Xiaoice is a kind of celebrity in China, with more than 550 million users and over 6 million subscribers on Weibo. Even if the girl-robot Microsoft created something quite poor, there would be a couple of hundred thousand people who would buy it.
What else can Xiaoice
In Russia (and indeed somewhere outside of Asia), AI was not heard of this. And in China, what only the girl did not do. Developed in 2014, a project based on an emotional mind framework uses machine learning, clouds, big data, and natural language processing to adapt to the interests of each of the hundreds of millions of its users. Due to this, the level of user engagement with chatbot is incredible.
Microsoft itself says that, on average, 120 million times a month interact with Xiaoice services. The popularity of the platform is largely ensured by the company's contracts with Xiaomi (all smart devices) and Huawei (all recent smartphones, 27% of the Chinese market). According to Microsoft, Xiaoice is one of the first full-fledged AIs, with both emotional and intellectual intelligence that complement each other. During AI training, in the process of changing generations, the emotional component (EQ) chooses the best intellectual pair (IQ) for itself, and then this process is repeated hundreds of millions of times.
Now Xiaoice is not only a chatbot and voice assistant for 660 million people in China, Japan, Indonesia, India and the USA. During her short life she also managed:
Launch a collection of poems ("Sunlight in the Lost Windows", even here Microsoft could not do without Windows).
Acting as a performer: Xiaoice herself wrote, composited and sang several dozen songs, adopting the technique of human singing.
Become a financier. From July 2018, the robot girl has been able to generate daily financial reports. Coverage - 90% of financial institutions in China, 75% of companies in the world and 40% of private investors.
Take part in the radio and TV programs. Appeared in 21 television programs and 28 radio programs. For the first time "live" appeared on TV in 2015, where she led the weather forecast (it looked extremely strange: an empty studio, without a lead, with a smiling and blinking picture of a girl on the TV screen in the corner).
