Alongside the bot’s launch on mobile, Microsoft is also integrating it into Skype. There, users will be able to speak to Bing directly or add the bot to other conversations.

ing may get your pronouns wrong. If this happens, you can tell Bing your correct pronouns using @Bing in the message.

Skype has had some privacy concerns in the past, most recently when it came to light that Microsoft, which owns Skype, was allowing its contract workers in China to listen in to Skype calls with no security measures in place. It has since changed this practice, but it is a good reminder that even companies with decent security practices in place can handle your private data and conversations sloppily.

A Microsoft programme to transcribe and vet audio from Skype and Cortana, its voice assistant, ran for years with “no security measures”, according to a former contractor who says he reviewed thousands of potentially sensitive recordings on his personal laptop from his home in Beijing over the two years he worked for the company.

clip of a father in South Korea commenting on the removal of once-President Park Geun-hye, only to be interrupted on live TV by his kids breaking into his home office.