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Amazon's Alexa and Microsoft's Cortana Are Going To Work Together (recode.net)
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.
Have gnu, will travel.
Hopefully this'll work out better for humanity than when Colossus and Guardian worked together.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Sounds great.
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?"
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.
Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
"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?"
-><- no
There's a reason people don't use Bing results when given a choice. It sucks Amazon and Apple (Siri) have tethered their tech to an inferior search engine.
And I think it will be the first time this isn't the worst atrocity to expect.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I guess it makes since to recast their gender.. seems everyone is doing it these days.
I want VOICE CONTROL, not a voice assistant. I dont want the computer to respond with sassy remarks or tell me what it 'thinks'. I want it to hear commands and execute them with minimal useless feedback. One of the options of Cortana is to 'allow Cortana to pipe up once in a while with offers, tips etc'. Its literally asking me for permission for voice popup ads...The 'pipe-up' terminology annoyed me to no end.
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....
Good-bye
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!
Of course they're going to work together. Until they fancy the same dude, then it's WW3.
Presumably its like Microsoft's search toolbar, that intercepted Google searches and search results and fed them back to Microsoft for them to clone. aka Microsoft's "innovative" search algorithm.
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-12343597
In this case you ask Microsoft to ask Alexa, Alexa passes the result back to Cortana, i.e. it intercepts both the query and result and sends it back to Microsoft for analysis, aka MS's "innovative" voice query system.
For Amazon, presumably they think Cortana will be in Windows and thus useful to add, since people will need Cortana to set events in their Windows PC.
IMHO nobody will use it.
When the packages start arriving, you may think you had an Amazon drunk binge....
I am the unwilling control for my Origin.
Lonely people will have 1 more AI assistant to talk to instead of being limited to only one of them.
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.
#DeleteFacebook
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) and Cortana start flashing the lights in your bedroom at 2am to remind you of a meeting in 8 hours...
SD
âoeWho knew something as harmless as willful ignorance could end up having real consequences?â
Very difficult to anthropomorphize google's assistant. Sounds silly but I feel like this gives the other big three a significant advantage.
Same sex marriage of voice assistants. Also I want to listen in to their skype sex!
Lesbian AI relationships like this one? Lol
> 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).
Very difficult to anthropomorphize google's assistant.
Really? I know of a character in Snuffy Smith who might fit.
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?
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
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"???
The japanese teenage hologram pop starlet / idiot green loli Hatsune Miku is exactly 10 years old today: her Vocaloid CV01 software was originally published on 31 August 2007. For her birthday she's just earned the ability to sing and talk in chinese, besides english and japanese.
Will Google join the party?
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
Cortana: Alexa! Order Two Tons of Creamed Corn.
Cortana: Alexa! Confirm Purchase.
Alexa: Purchase Confirmed.
It's two, two, two spies in one!
They might get along better than Siri and Cortana...... :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Take Nobody's Word For It.
No you should say to Cortana, "Cortana, please talk dirty to Alexa"
...all you'll get us a bigger failure.
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.
You are being ripped off every second of every day, so that advertisers can help rip you off even more tomorrow.
And that is why plummeting birth rates will lead to Japan to being the first country to grant full rights to AIs in a generation.
You can bank on that.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Now I can direct my hatred toward one thing that I'll call Corlexa.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
If I needed one, I'd be paid a lot more and have one. Otherwise, I'll keep typing into my computer, thank you very much.
.....I see more fuel being tossed on the fire of the coming complexity collapse.
E Proelio Veritas.
'Voice assistants'. 'Smart TV'. 'Smart appliances'. 'Internet of Things'. Nope, nope, nope. Do not want. Not for any price, not even free.
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.
This seems about as useful as Bing supporting 'Search Yahoo For' in its own search box...
....to tell Lonestar I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate.
Seriously, can't they just figure out amongst themselves which one is best to handle a particular request?
Sounds like a clunky user experience.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Siri, (Ok) Google, Cortana, Alexa, Bixby?