Several years ago voice assistants were the next big thing on our smartphones and other devices, and it led to four big options – Google Assistant, Apple’s Siri, Samsung’s Bixby, and Microsoft Cortana. Now, as generative AI takes the focus, Microsoft Cortana has come to an end.
Back in June, Microsoft announced that it would pull the plug on Cortana on Windows 10 and Windows 11 starting in “late 2023.” But, it seems the company has gotten started a bit early, as Windows Latest spotted an update to Cortana that pulls the plug on the assistant as a standalone application on Windows 11, and the outlet claims that Windows 10 support could be dropped within the next week or so.
Of course, the reason Microsoft is pulling the plug on Cortana is for the use of generative AI instead.
The latest updates to Windows 11 have integrated “Copilot,” the same generative AI used in Bing, directly into Windows in the places Cortana was previously used.
Microsoft killed Cortana on Android and iOS in 2021.
Cortana isn’t the only voice assistant threatened by AI, though. Google Assistant is also reportedly undergoing an AI makeover behind the scenes, as we heard more details about last week. Where Microsoft decided to kill off its assistant, Google is “supercharging” its current product with the help of the language models (LLMs) that bring Bard and more to life.
What will happen to other voice assistants? That’s hard to say. Samsung has, for a while, moved Bixby to a focus on on-device controls, while Apple has been coy so far regarding any generative AI improvements. There are apparently some internal efforts, but little chance of a launch even in 2024.
More on AI:
- Microsoft Bing AI ditches the waitlist as plugins, image search, and more are coming
- Google Messages gaining AI-based ‘Magic Compose’
- Grammarly rolls out its generative AI tools with these limits
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