Cortana explained: The rocky past and promising future of Microsoft’s digital assistant
Remember Cortana? Microsoft’s digital assistant that was supposed to go toe-to-toe with Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant — that was going to help you with many of your daily tasks; be built into smart speakers; help you control your smart home, play music, check the weather, news, and more?
Those days are long gone — so much so that if you say “Hey Cortana” to your Windows 11 computer you won’t get an answer, because the virtual assistant is turned off by default. Which might make you think Cortana is all but dead.
But it’s not. In fact, Microsoft has big plans for it — but very different ones from when the product was first released. The company has been uncharacteristically low-key about what it plans for Cortana’s future, so it might have fallen off your radar.