BBC releases beta of Microsoft-developed voice assistant Beeb

The British public broadcaster BBC has released a beta of its speech assistant Beeb, which was developed in collaboration with Microsoft. The test version is available to Brits who participate in Microsoft’s Windows Insider program.

The Beeb beta is available in the Microsoft Store, but is only available for download by users from the United Kingdom. A BBC account is also required to use the software. There are some screenshots of the app in the download store and the description explains its functionality.

BBC radio stations and podcasts can be started via the assistant. With the voice command ‘Ok Beeb, update me’, users will hear the local weather forecast and news headlines. The assistant also listens to commands such as ‘tell me a joke’ or ‘tell me a fact’. New features will be added in the coming months, according to the description.

It is the first public test with Beeb, the voice assistant that the BBC announced last year. For now, the beta is only available through the Windows Insider program, but according to the broadcaster, a beta will follow soon that will be available to everyone.

Microsoft is responsible for the infrastructure behind Beeb. The Azure AI services are used for this. The broadcaster makes the voice assistant because, according to its own statement, there is a demand for it to be able to call programs and services with speech. According to the BBC, one in five adult Britons has a smart speaker at home. Beeb is also planned to be integrated into BBC’s iPlayer app.