(Yicai Global) Jan. 17 -- Microsoft will let users create personalized female avatars based on its smart Chinese chatbot Xiaoice to expand the underlying artificial intelligence framework's capacity.

Microsoft will launch a trial on its AI system Avatar Framework on Jan. 22, targeting a goal of 999 "lover" avatars done via Xiaoice, Chinese news outlet QQ.com reported today. The teenager chatbot can so far draw, sing, and hold a conversation.

"This is the future," QQ.com added, citing the online celebrity who is learning emotional intelligence. "Among hundreds of millions of people, Xiaoice can create a person who exclusively belongs to you."

Last August, Microsoft opened the Avatar Framework to companies so that they can leverage the increasingly intelligent system to develop customer service bots and voice assistants. 

During the trial period, each user-generated avatar has a life span of 168 hours. The Washington-headquartered firm is planning to officially launch the service this spring when the expired avatars can be revived.

Xiaoice, which makes use of natural language processing and computer vision, was launched by Microsoft Asia Internet Academy of Engineering in 2014. Its latest version has 660 million users. 

Editor: Emmi Laine