Microsoft might soon release a natural language customer support AI

Microsoft recently announced an improved search coming to OneDrive, which uses natural language processing.

by Flavius Floare

Flavius is a writer and a media content producer with a particular interest in technology, gaming, media, film and storytelling. He enjoys spending time in nature and at… read more

Updated on October 10, 2023

Microsoft might soon release a natural language processing customer support AI, according to a patent the company has filed recently.

This customer support uses a system and method that work together to automatically find the right steps to solve a customer support request.

The system uses a special algorithm, based on progressing natural language processing (NLP) capabilities, which generates text-encoding representations of the issue at hand, and then it generates the operating procedure encodings using the same algorithm.

In other words, this customer support AI envisioned by Microsoft in the patent is capable of finding the right steps to resolve a customer support request by translating the issue and possible solutions into a common language and finding the best match.

This system is not different from the already existing Bing Chat or Windows Copilot, for example, but the main difference is that this AI would be used for customer care support situations, where people are using natural language to describe highly technical issues of their products.

Microsoft’s customer support AI: How would it work?

1. The system receives a customer support request about an issue.
2. It would then turn the issue into one or more text encoding representations. This is similar to translating the issue into a language the system can understand.
3. These text encoding representations are given as a first input to a matching and selection unit.
4. The system also provides encodings for a bunch of operating procedures as a second input to this unit. We’re talking about different sets of steps the system could take to resolve the issue.
5. The matching and selection unit then compares the text encoding representations to the operating procedure encodings to find the best match.
6. It identifies one or more operating procedures that could resolve the issue.
7. Finally, it provides these operating procedures as recommendations or even solutions for resolving the issue.

This wouldn’t be the first time Microsoft experiments with natural language processing. As you might know, the Redmond-based tech giant recently announced an improved search is coming to OneDrive.

The improved search makes use of natural language processing to allow users to find files and photos by typing in natural words, such as sunset. OneDrive will then display all the photos that have a sunset.

The patent was filed last year, in 2022, but it was only published to the public earlier this October. If we take into account that Microsoft already announced a feature using a natural language processor, this customer support AI could soon come to Microsoft products.

Microsoft 365 apps or maybe even the next iteration of Windows? Who knows? One might hope, though.