Cortana (virtual assistant): Difference between revisions

 

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== References ==

== References ==

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== Further reading ==

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== External links ==

== External links ==

* [https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/cortana/devices Cortana Compatible Devices]

* https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/cortana

* [https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4026948/windows-10-cortanas-regions-and-languages Cortana Supported Languages]

* [https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4026948/windows-10-cortanas-regions-and-languages Cortana Supported Languages]

* [https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/Cortana Cortana for Developers]

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* [https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/cortana-analytics-suite/overview.aspx Cortana Analytics Suite Overview]

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{{Windows Phone}}

{{Windows Phone}}

Personal assistant by Microsoft

Cortana is a virtual assistant developed by Microsoft, that uses the Bing search engine to perform tasks such as setting reminders and answering questions for the user.

Cortana is currently available in English, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese language editions, depending on the software platform and region in which it is used.^[8]

Microsoft began reducing the prevalence of Cortana and converting it from an assistant into different software integrations in 2019.^[9] It was split from the Windows 10 search bar in April 2019.^[10] In January 2020, the Cortana mobile app was removed from certain markets,^[11][12] and on March 31, 2021, the Cortana mobile app was shut down globally.^[13]

History[edit]

Cortana was demonstrated for the first time at the Microsoft Build developer conference in San Francisco in April 2014.^[1] It was launched as a key ingredient of Microsoft’s planned “makeover” of future operating systems for Windows Phone and Windows.^[5]

It is named after Cortana,^[14] a synthetic intelligence character in Microsoft’s Halo video game franchise originating in Bungie folklore,^[15] with Jen Taylor, the character’s voice actress, returning to voice the personal assistant’s US-specific version.^[16]

Development[edit]

The development of Cortana started in 2009 in the Microsoft Speech products team with general manager Zig Serafin and Chief Scientist Larry Heck. Heck and Serafin established the vision, mission, and long-range plan for Microsoft’s digital personal assistant and they built a team with the expertise to create the initial prototypes for Cortana.^[17] Some of the key researchers in these early efforts included Microsoft Research researchers Dilek Hakkani-Tür, Gokhan Tur, Andreas Stolcke, and Malcolm Slaney, research software developer Madhu Chinthakunta, and user experience designer Lisa Stifelman. To develop the Cortana digital assistant, the team interviewed human personal assistants. The interviews inspired a number of unique features in Cortana, including the assistant’s “notebook” feature. Originally, Cortana was meant to be only a codename, but a petition on Windows Phone’s UserVoice site proved to be popular and made the codename official.^[18][19]

Expansion to other platforms[edit]

In January 2015, Microsoft announced the availability of Cortana for Windows 10 desktops and mobile devices as part of merging Windows Phone into the operating system at large.

On May 26, 2015, Microsoft announced that Cortana would also be available on other mobile platforms. An Android release was set for July 2015, but the Android APK file containing Cortana was leaked ahead of its release. It was officially released, along with an iOS version, in December 2015.^[20]

During E3 2015, Microsoft announced that Cortana would come to the Xbox One as part of a universally designed Windows 10 update for the console.^[21]

New focus[edit]

In 2017, Microsoft partnered with Amazon to integrate Echo and Cortana with each other, allowing users of each smart assistant to summon the other via a command.^[22] This feature preview was released in August 2018. Windows 10 users can just say “Hey Cortana, open Alexa” and Echo users can say “Alexa, open Cortana” to summon the…