Microsoft Cortana gets the power of Amazon Alexa

Microsoft Cortana gets the power of Amazon Alexa

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that the company is working on a new version of Cortana which will enable it to talk to other AIs. Cortana is also currently being developed to work with Amazon’s digital assistant, Alexa. Microsoft and Amazon may be competing with each other in the cloud-computing market, but in the realm of voice-controlled personal assistants, Cortana and Alexa are forging a friendship.

Microsoft demonstrated the developing technology on stage tonight. Amazon Alexa was asked what it thinks about Cortana to which it replies, “I like Cortana. We both have experience with light rings, although here is more of a #Halo.” The pun here is about the AI character Cortana in Microsoft Xbox game Halo. Then Alexa Senior Vice President Tom Taylor demonstrated using Cortana at work to check on his restaurant reservation before asking Cortana to raise Alexa to order an Uber. Alexa even declared that she likes Cortana, although neither assistant sang The Turtles' hit "Happy Together." Both companies are trying to get their voice assistants installed in cars, and Amazon is striking deals with PC makers to pre-install the software, another encroachment on Cortana's patch in Windows.

Cortana on Alexa can be summoned by using the command, “Alexa, open Cortana”. You can then follow up with commands to Cortana which may not be possible with Alexa. Microsoft will also allow this cross-platform feature for Alexa on Cortana. Users can also use Alexa within Cortana on Windows 10 devices.

This is only the beginning of a (hopefully) beautiful digital friendship between the two ladies, but Microsoft did not announce a date for when this integration will go live for its 700 million Windows 10 customers.