Microsoft Brings Its Assistant Cortana To Skype

Microsoft brings Cortana to Skype which means Skype users can now chat with the digital assistant as they would a human on Skype and this means you can now access more information from web without having to leave the Skype application. So you’re having a conversation with friends and making plans, you will now be able to make restaurant reservation, check up on movie times and schedule events among others. The update started rolling out to users in the United States according to a blog post but we don’t know yet is when or whether it will be introduced to other markets as well. It is now available for Skype on iOS and Android.

The way it works is just like how the Google Assistant works in the Google chat service Allo whereby you see it in your contact list and then call them up for a chat. Cortana will be automatically added to your Skype contact list from where you can call it up for a chat.

Cortana is also a contact in Skype. So now, you can have natural conversations in one-on-one chats with Cortana—just like you would with your friends, family, and coworkers. Get answers to your burning questions, like the name of the lead actor in your favorite movie or what the weather outlook is for the weekend.

Cortana though for now at least won’t work in video and voice calls but maybe that’s in the works but Skype has video bots coming so it might not be necessary to build Cortana separately into video calls. Since it will be in your contacts, even in a video chat, you would be easily able to call it up for queries.

Since there are now over 500 million devices, it simply means that Cortana is now on 500 million devices and by bringing this to Skype, the figure could be as high as 1 billion by the end of the year. Later this year we expect the release of a Cortana powered Harman Kardon Invoke smart speaker device which would mean more Cortana for the world and according to Microsoft’s Vice President Jordi Ribas, there are now over 140 million users who speak with Cortana monthly but again, that number could significantly increase by year’s end.