This may be a great news for the Android and Apple device users. Microsoft Cortana, after serving as the “personal assistant” to Windows Phones, may be coming to the Android and Apple devices. Microsoft revealed that they are working on the artificial intelligence project named as “Einstein.” So, does this mean that Microsoft has plans to bring Cortana on rivals’ platform? Well, there is nothing confirmed about it.
Cortana is already running on Windows Phones. We will soon see its new version on Windows 10. Microsoft has started working on bringing the standalone app version of Cortana that can run on iOS and Android mobile devices, such as tablets and phones.
Eric Horvitz, managing director of Microsoft Research, who is also a part of the Einstein project mentions that,
“This kind of technology, which can read and understand email, will play a central role in the next roll out of Cortana, which we are working on now for the fall time frame….. We’re defining the competitive landscape… of who can provide the most supportive services that make life easier, keep track of things, that complements human memory in a way that helps us get things done,”
The report on Reuters about Microsoft Cortana mentions that,
“Horvitz and Microsoft declined comment on any plan to take Cortana beyond Windows. Still, Microsoft believes its work on speech recognition, search and machine learning will let it transform its digital assistant into the first intelligent ‘agent’ which anticipates users’ needs. By comparison, Siri is advertised mostly as responding to requests. Google’s mobile app, which doesn’t have a name like Siri or Cortana, already offers some limited predictive information ‘cards’ based on what it thinks the user wants to know.”
Cortana will be successful only if it can successfully know the location of the user, current time and users’ requirements. If Cortana is able to answer these three key questions, then it can produce the results relevant to the users.
