“Microsoft, Amazon release preview of Alexa and Cortana collaboration”

https://blogs.microsoft.com/ai/alexa-cortana-public-preview/

Hi, everyone. Amazon’s Alexa and Microsoft’s Cortana are taking the next step in a collaboration announced last fall. U.S. customers who are interested in early access at the collaboration will be able to summon Cortana on Echo devices and enables Alexa on their Windows 10 PCs and Harmon Kardon Invoke speakers. The goal is have two integrated digital assistants who can carry out task across different dimensions of daily life at home or work, and on whatever device is most convenient. Currently, Cortana and Alexa can each be enabled a skill on the other.

An Office 365 customer could, for insane, ask Cortana to summon Alexa through a PC at work and use Alexa to order groceries or adjust the thermostat before heading home the day. And someone making breakfast in the kitchen could enlist Cortana through on Echo device to preview daily calendar, add an item to a to-do list or check for new emails before heading tot the office. These early users will be asked to engage with the new features and offer input: what they like, what they don’t like, what features they use the most. The experience will get better and more precise, more people use it, through customer input and additional data to improve underlying algorithms. Some features such as streaming music and setting alarms are not get available; but additional skills and devices will be integrated over time. Engineers will use feedback from the public preview to deepen the collaboration between Cortana and Alexa.