Microsoft is killing the standalone Cortana app for Home windows in late 2023

Apparently, the introduction of Home windows Copilot signaled the tip of Cortana on Microsoft’s desktop OS. In a brand new help doc first noticed by Home windows Central, the tech large has introduced that it’s going to cease supporting the standalone Cortana app for Home windows in late 2023. Microsoft launched Cortana as a voice assistant for Home windows cell units again in 2014. It was purported to be the corporate’s reply to Apple’s Siri, and it even predates Amazon’s Alexa, nevertheless it by no means fairly achieved their degree of recognition and recognition. 

Over the 12 months, Microsoft scaled again its plans for the voice assistant till it discontinued its Android and iOS apps again in 2021. The corporate even eliminated it from associate producers’ units, resembling good audio system. For Home windows, specifically, Microsoft modified its standing as a baked-in digital assistant and spun it out into its personal app for computer systems. That is the app we’re bidding farewell to by the tip of the 12 months. 

In its announcement, Microsoft identified that customers will nonetheless have entry to “highly effective productiveness options in Home windows and Edge, which have elevated AI capabilities.” It particularly talked about the brand new Bing that is now powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4 expertise. Microsoft launched the Microsoft 365 Copilot device that may create content material inside Workplace apps with text-based prompts in March. 

After which in late Might, the corporate revealed at its Construct developer convention that it is making AI a deeply built-in a part of Home windows 11 by placing a Copilot device within the platform’s sidebar. Customers can ask it to carry out duties inside the OS, resembling altering the pc background, and even modifying images and summarizing paperwork, with out having to launch apps or to seek for specific settings. Most probably, only a few folks will probably be lacking Cortana. People who do use the assistant can transition to utilizing Copilot, which will probably be accessible as a preview model for Home windows 11 beginning this month. 

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