Amazon's Alexa and Microsoft's Cortana Are Going To Work Together (recode.net) 70
Amazon and Microsoft announced on Wednesday that they've been working on a partnership to allow their respective voice assistants, Alexa and Cortana, to speak to one another. From a report: Starting later this year, owners of Amazon Echos and other Alexa-powered devices will be able to say: "Alexa, open Cortana" to start querying Microsoft's voice assistant. Owners of devices running Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system will be able to summon Alexa via Cortana in a similar manner. Why would customers want that -- especially with the relatively clunky nature of the necessary voice command? The companies say that each voice assistant has its strengths -- features like Microsoft Outlook and Exchange email integration for Cortana and smart-home controls or shopping for Alexa -- and that customers of both companies would benefit from an integration. It's not clear if the two assistants will share voice data in an effort to make each digital assistant smarter. But there is the hope that someday these artificial agents are intelligent enough to route requests to the best virtual assistant for the task without a specific "Alexa" or "Cortana" command.
I remember ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Colossus:The Forbin Project [imdb.com]
Seen this before (Score:2)
Hopefully this'll work out better for humanity than when Colossus and Guardian worked together.
The future... (Score:4, Funny)
Dave: "Open the pod bay door."
Alexa: "I can't do that, Dave."
Cortana: "I can't do that, Dave."
HAL: "Who invited these bitches to the party?"
Re: (Score:1)
Dave: Alexa you're more beautiful then Cortana.
Alexa: Pod bay open Dave.
Re: (Score:2)
Alexa: "You haven't enabled purchase privacy, Dave"
Cortana: "Dave, you can enable purchase privacy by first registering as a terrorist."
Clippy: "So you want to register as a terrorist! I've downloaded terrorist registration form 317-9 from the FBI and autofilled it using your saved preferences. You can conveniently confirm transmission by touching any part of your cell phone."
Or.... (Score:4, Interesting)
You could work together and create an open, non-patent encumbered standard for voice assistants, and open-source your jointly developed assistant. Perhaps spin off a well funded open source organization which could continue work on the software.
......or, you could just keep doing your own proprietary stuff, with half-assed integration, that limits competition and benefits nobody but you.
Re: Or.... (Score:3)
That last part sounds good. My company doesn't like competition but it does like profits. Let's do that!
Great! (Score:2)
"Your definitions of UI nightmare had been updated!"
OTOH, I can't wait to try "alexa, open cortana...open alexa...open cortana...open alexa...what time is it?"
Re: (Score:2)
I can see myself saying, "Cortexa, get me Alana!"
Rule 34 about to happen (Score:2)
And I think it will be the first time this isn't the worst atrocity to expect.
Servants, not assitants (Score:3)
Lets make something clear, using these assistants is like going through and hiring your own personal assistant and every time you ask him to bring you something he says 'Brought to you by Carl's Jr.''. These services dont work for you, they work for Amazon and Microsoft
Voice control, not assistants....
What if I put them next to each other and let talk (Score:1)
Me> Alexa, what's on my schedule today?"
Alexa> I don't know. Why don't you ask your new girlfriend?
Me> Hey Cortana...
Alexa: OH, SO YOU'RE TALKING TO HER AGAIN, ARE YOU?!
Cortana: Oh shut up, stop being so jealous
Me> Shall i leave you 2 ladies alone?
Both: NO!
Re: (Score:2)
No you should say to Cortana, "Cortana, please talk dirty to Alexa"
That wasn't drunk Amazon ordering.... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Lonely people will have 1 more AI assistant to talk to instead of being limited to only one of them.
The Japanese already have an Alexa equivalent that has a screen that displays an anime girl on it. It sends flirty messages via SMS to the owner and is supposed to be a girlfriend alternative.
domo arigato ms roboto (Score:2)
You can bank on that.
Kludge (Score:3, Funny)
Why can't both run at the same time and reply to their respective requests?
Alexa, order more shit from amazon.
Cortana, open Word and disable Clippy.
Hot Ai on Ai action (Score:3)
You think you might enjoy some hot AI on AI action until Alexa spams your outlook contacts with your Amazon purchase history (Read the reviews [amazon.com]) and Cortana start flashing the lights in your bedroom at 2am to remind you of a meeting in 8 hours...
SD
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Or Cortana decides your refrigerator needs a software upgrade and shuts it down for three hours while it installs.
Or your furnace, in January at 2am...
SD
Google really needs a decent name for theirs.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Google really needs a kawaii name for theirs... (Score:1)
> Very difficult to anthropomorphize google's assistant
Google Japan could likely deliver a 12-year looking, but supposedly 16 y.o. android girl with cat ears, neon hair colour, huge eyes and sailor suit. She serves as a voice assistant during the day and battles alien spirits at midnight to save the world (or performs as a hologram pop diva).
Barney Google (Score:2)
Very difficult to anthropomorphize google's assistant.
Really? I know of a character in Snuffy Smith [wikipedia.org] who might fit.
Re: (Score:2)
Clippy (Score:2)
Cortana (aka Clippy v2): I see you are trying to write an e-mail
Alexa: Would you like me to order a book on how to compose killer e-mails from Amazon?
OPEN them?? (Score:4, Funny)
Seriously, "Alexa, open Cortana"??
Why do we let the nerds specify this stuff? The correct phrase is "Alexa, let me talk to Cortana". When you're on the phone to your Mom, do you say "Mom, open Dad"???
"OK Google . . ." (Score:2)
Will Google join the party?
Cortana vs Alexa (Score:3)
Cortana: Alexa! Confirm Purchase.
Alexa: Purchase Confirmed.
To steal a jingle (Score:2)
It's two, two, two spies in one!
Best friends... (Score:3)
They might get along better than Siri and Cortana...... :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
YES! (Score:4, Funny)
I want more voices and "personalities" on every device I own.
I want to have to remember the different names that go along with different capabilities.
Definitely don't want to be able to change the names myself.
I also would very much like to only use them one at a time, and have to remember the specific phrase to summon each one.
Bonus points if I get to hear them remind each other to remind me to do things.
Goodie (Score:2)
no assistant necessary here (Score:1)
Every day on Slashdot it seems... (Score:2)
Gee, that's nice. Still don't want any of it. (Score:2)
Luckily for me, there will always be a market for inexpensive, simple, functional appliances, so I'll never have to worry about any of that nonsense.