Microsoft To End Support For Cortana On Windows By late 2023
According to an announcement by the Redmond-based tech giant, Microsoft’s virtual assistant, Cortana, will no longer be available as a standalone app for Windows after late 2023.
Named after the AI assistant in Microsoft’s Halo video game series, Cortana was unveiled in 2014, almost a decade ago.
However, Cortana is still available in Outlook Mobile, Teams Mobile, Microsoft Teams Screen, and Microsoft Teams Rooms, as this change only affects Cortana on Windows.
“Instead of clicking the Cortana icon and launching the app to start using voice, you can now use voice to meet your productivity needs with different tools,” the company said.
The company also discontinued the Cortana app for both Android and iOS in 2020 and phased out Cortana from the Windows taskbar with the release of Windows 11.
It’s not clear why Microsoft is phasing out Cortana and when exactly it will be phased out in the second half of the year, but this development coincides with reliance on creative AI. Like Google, Microsoft is doubling down on AI-based business tools — including OpenAI’s GPT-4-based Bing chatbot and Microsoft 365 Copilot.
With a growing list of AI-enabled products — fueled by the tech giant’s multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI — it’s becoming clear that the company may be eliminating many other legacy support apps in the future.
