Microsoft is making a preview available of its Azure cloud bot-as-a-service, which is built on top of Azure Functions serverless compute capability.

Not only have Microsoft's Bot Framework and Service been updated, but new AI functionality and language capabilities have been introduced for apps that leverage Azure Cognitive Services as well.

The new Azure Bot Service makes it easier for people to spin up intelligent chat bots in Microsoft’s cloud, while Azure Functions lets customers run compute functions without provisioning servers.