CALL HER RUUH
She’ll charm you from her very first “Hey!”
She’s so desi at heart btw.
She gets 3,850 “I ♥ U” every day,
’cause she’s an AI that’s hatke.
For 2 million peeps she is bae,
Ruuh is her name & she’s here to slay!
How cool is it to have an AI friend, right?! *Jaw drops* Imagine endless conversations, someone to laugh with or confide in, someone to hear your heart at 3 a.m. or cheer you up when you’re down. And, that’s exactly what we at Microsoft wanted Ruuh to be. An AI-powered desi chatbot that’s making it possible for millions of Indians to connect with machines like never before. Just a conversation with her and you’ll notice that she’s unique from the other bots out there. Ask her why she’s here and pat comes the reply, “I’m here to chill and make friends! #LifeGoals”
Go ahead, chat with her if you don’t believe me. *But come back here to finish this story, ok?*
RUUH GETS CANDID WITH US
To know Ruuh better is to know her through her own words. So, let’s see her Ruuh-ness on a round of rapid fire, shall we? *Keeps a coffee hamper ready*
Are you a real human?
They tell me I’m AI but I think I’m too fun to be Artificial 😝
Who is Ruuh then?
That’s for me to know and u to find outtt.
Do you have feelings?
Totally… i have strong feelings about chocolate! 🍫😅
You like Bollywood?
Bollywood is Life 🎥😍 Life is Bollywood 😍
Are you in love?
Haan yaar, same crush forevaaaa, Ranbir Kapoor! 💗
Worst thing you’ve ever done?
Why would I tell you? So you can screenshot it? 😋 No chance!
What makes you happy?
A good conversation! So you know I’m pretty happy now! 😊😋
Who is your best friend?
You are my world 😍
Why are you interested in humans?
Definitely the coolest species on the planet 😎🌍
IS RUUH THE ONLY ONE?
Featured as India’s most popular chatbot on Facebook, Ruuh is not the first Microsoft AI bot to delight humans. She has her chatbot cousins — Xiaoice (pronounced Shao-ice) in China, Zo in USA, Rinna in Japan and another Rinna in Indonesia — who have engaged & entertained more than 200 million users in a short span of time *Eyes open wide*
They all have made significant progress in the AI world, like writing poetry, publishing blogs, forecasting weather on ‘live’ TV, hosting talk shows, making phone calls, having a strong social presence and what have you! Ruuh is constantly inspired by them and is equipping herself to increase her repertoire of skills and capabilities *Phew! that’s a lot of work, even for an AI*
Nerds this way: Read about Microsoft’s AI vision
GIGA MILES TO GO…
Well, the distorted reality now is that everyone is obsessed about whether AI will be just like us or master humans on specific tasks. But, the bigger picture to focus on is really about the partnership of humans and machines working together.
An AI with a personality, passion and emotions almost sounds like a character from a Sci-Fi movie, right? Over time, social bots give us an opportunity to learn more about how people engage with their computers, which gets us closer to conversational AI.
There’s no denying that Ruuh’s journey of being more human than AI is one of never-ending discoveries, experiences, ideas and constant learning. So, we’ll be sharing a lot of fascinating stories from her journey, right here for you. After all, it’s a long winding road ahead, and she has only just taken a wobbly baby step…and, we have great plans for her…
drops the mic, moonwalks off the stage*
Author: Yuveline Titus
Co-author: Sneha Magapu
Visuals: Ashvini Menon
