Millions of people are chatting with a 17-year-old Chinese girl on Weibo—and she’s not human. Xiaoice is the sixth most active celebrity on the chat app, and has had 10 billion conversations with users, who ask for advice about their personal lives and confide in the artificial intelligence teen. She even offers a breakup therapy course. Instead of being “precise and repetitive,” Xiaoice is emotional and answers differently depending on context, and many users don’t “necessarily care that they’re chatting with a machine.” The chatbots are coming, and not just for marketing. (Nautilus)
