Microsoft is gradually retiring its voice assistant to replace it with its brand new artificial intelligence tool: Copilot.
We can’t say that Cortana made a good impression. However, his departure could be more than significant for Windows and serve as a starting point for the future of voice assistants.
The end of an era
Announced a few weeks ago, the disappearance of Cortana is no longer a surprise. However, things are starting to take shape, with its app shutting down on Windows 11 through a new update. It is still possible to launch the program, but it now displays a notification, indicating that it has become obsolete, all accompanied by a link to the Microsoft site. An abrupt end, but which illustrates the lack of consideration that the American giant has for its voice assistant.
Cortana is not only integrated into Windows, it is also found in applications affiliated with Teams, which it will leave definitively this fall. However, Microsoft assures that its voice assistant ” will continue to be available within Outlook on mobile devices for an indefinite period. Surprising, especially since the email application should inevitably benefit from the services of the next child prodigy of the American giant.
A losing battle
Indeed, the disappearance of Cortana coincides with the appearance of Copilot, which is promised a bright future within the Microsoft ecosystem. Powered by BingGPT, it should be more capable, more versatile and more useful than its predecessor, and it will be able to perform the functions that Cortana provided. In any case, Microsoft has big ambitions for it, and it should pave the way for a new generation of voice assistants, boosted by the latest generative AI technologies.
But ultimately, Copilot or not, Cortana was destined to disappear. Already weakened by the commercial failure experienced by Windows Mobile and its successors, it will have been difficult to impose it on iOS and Android, which already benefit from their own voice assistants that are well integrated into their respective ecosystems. Microsoft ended up showing signs of disaffection with its product a few years ago, abandoning its applications for mobile platforms. Worse still, while Cortana was very present on Windows 10, to the point of becoming an annoyance for some, Windows 11 put her in the background as soon as it was released. Like a perfume of early retirement for an assistant who never really shone, and who never lived up to his first inspiration.
Source : The Verge
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