Microsoft announces Skype 'personal assistant' bots for Mac

Skype users using a Mac or the web-based version of the program will now be able to use bots to help them find what they need. Microsoft has now rolled out bot support to both platforms, following their introduction to Windows and Android/ iOS mobile devices in March 2016.

Microsoft announced its AI-powered bots during its Build 2016 conference on 30 March. These essentially serve as rudimentary, AI powered personal assistants that help users complete daily tasks more easily.

For Mac users, these can now be activated by selecting "Contacts" from the menu and then hitting "Add Bot". Skype for Web users, meanwhile, can select "Discover Bots" on the left toolbar to see a list of available Bots.

Microsoft has also expanded its selection of bots with two new additions: Murphy, a bot designed "to find and create images for when questions can't be answered by words alone" and Summarize, which was been designed - you guessed it - to summarize a web page if you don't have time to read the whole thing.

For those of you who think this all sounds like complete and utter gibberish, take a look at our handy guide explaining what a bot actually is.