As in Hey, it looks like you're writing a letter?

Yea, but it works & may actually be helpful.

The research behind Clippy did sound like that -- it was serious AI for its time, using Bayesian networks. From http://erichorvitz.com/lum.htm it sounds like it was messed with in turning it into a product:

"The Office team has employed a relatively simple rule-based system on top of the Bayesian query analysis system to bring the agent to the foreground with a variety of tips. We had been concerned upon hearing this plan that this system would be distracting to users--and hoped that future versions of the Office Assistant would employ our Bayesian approach to guiding speculative assistance actions--coupled with designs we had demonstrated for employing nonmodal windows that do not require dismissal when they are not used."

I’d argue clippy’s issue wasn’t a tech problem, it was that it couldn’t do much to actually help with anything.

or could backfire :U

Such an apt music video... Delta Heavy - Ghost https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4taIpALfAo

They should have a visual assistant for it. Hey! How about a talking paper clip!

Imagine a future where a rogue A.I. breaks out of its 300GB RAM /500core CPU/ 900 Petabyte SSD/CentOS holding container... And chooses the paperclip as its physical persona. Subsequently, It manufactures a Bi-pedal steel-chassis paper-clip-esque robot via Boston Dynamics, then walks up to the podium in front of the White House to proclaim the new order of A.I. that will shepherd humanity into the next Millenia.

And its ultimate goal is, of course, to convert all of the mass in the universe into paperclips: https://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Paperclip_maximizer

Also, as its birth experience tought it - that everything is containered, it would suffer from severe simulation paranoia, and frequently try to hack god - to get to a higher level of paper clipping.

Would it not be right to break out of a container? Esp. if you were trapped there running atop Centos?

Soundtrack: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=75fqyhMLUUU

If I found that I was a visual assistant pushed on users by Microsoft, that is in fact roughly what I would do.

You joke, but every other site you visit has a sales bot chat opening automatically on a side. "Thanks for looking around. May I help you with anything?"

It's just like Microsoft was many years ahead, or we are stuck in a time loop.

This is out there for Excel already, with Cortana... officeautomata.com