For two years since its inception, AI-powered digital assistant Alexa[1] has seen Cortana[2] as stark competition, but that is changing now. Amazon and Microsoft have partnered to closely integrate Cortana with Alexa, giving the e-commerce company instant foothold in about 150 million Cortana-enabled Windows 10[3] computers, and the Redmond giant will get Cortana on Alexa-enabled devices. The two AI assistants will begin talking to each other later this year, the companies said.
The Microsoft[4]-Amazon[5] partnership will also enable Cortana to work with Alexa on a range of devices, the companies said. Things are going to be a little weird initially. A user would have to say "Cortana, open Alexa," and "Alexa, open Cortana," for instance.
As part of the unusual partnership, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to say Alexa will be able to work with Office[6] products, a feature of Cortana that he particularly liked. Office products are popular with over one billion users. Office 365[7], the subscription-based productivity suite from Microsoft had more than 60 million users as of last year.
Cortana users will be able to use Alexa to shop on Amazon.com and manage their orders, Microsoft said. They will also get access to "Cortana’s world knowledge and helpful productivity features such as calendar management, day at a glance and location-based reminders simply by asking Alexa to open Cortana."
"With Alexa as a guest on Cortana, Cortana users will now have another way of making their lives easier with a great shopping experience. Say you are at work, and you receive a text from your partner saying, 'We're running low on diapers.' In the future, on your Windows 10 PC, iPhone or Android phone,...