Microsoft Is Bringing Cortana to Skype

Skype is almost to get a whole lot smarter, cheers to Cortana.

Microsoft is bringing the virtual assistant into its chat service "to help yous in your everyday conversations." Then, the next time you're chatting with someone and need to look up something — like movie times, restaurant hours, or a fact — you may be able to get the information right from Skype.

"Looking for information often requires interrupting the conversation, even if briefly, and switching apps to find what we're looking for and bring it back into the chat," the Skype team wrote in a weblog post. "But shouldn't engineering science make our lives easier and truly bring the answers we need to our fingertips?"

Microsoft'due south move to bring Cortana to Skype comes more than two years ago afterwards Facebook showtime introduced a digital assistant for its Messenger app called Chiliad. The social network this past April introduced a fully automated version of K (prior to that it was powered by artificial intelligence and actual people) that offers suggestions based on your chat.

Cortana will at present bring like functionality to Skype. If you lot're talking most seeing a film, for example, it might suggest you cheque out the review. Or, if information technology detects you're talking most scheduling events or things y'all have to do, it might recommend setting upwardly a calendar reminder. Cortana will too offer suggested replies, and so you can respond in a time crunch without having to type a thing — like you lot already tin in Google'southward Gmail apps.

Plus, you tin also accept one-on-i chats with Cortana and get answers to your questions, restaurant recommendations, check your flight condition, notice stock quotes, and more.

Microsoft said the feature volition be rolling out gradually, starting today, to iOS and Android users in the Usa.

About Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo is PCMag's expert on fettle and smart home products. Educational activity yoga for nearly x years has helped her in evaluating a range of connected health products including fitness trackers, heart rate monitors, rowers, smart scales, stationary bikes, strength preparation machines, treadmills, and more. Angela also tests smart home devices from her ranch in Florida, including air purifiers, kitchen appliances, and robot vacuums, just to proper noun a few.