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Microsoft is changing the way you interact with their digital assistant Cortana. On smart speakers that are powered by Cortana, users will just have to say “Cortana” instead of the usual “Hey Cortana.” This change isn’t live just yet for iOS, Android, or Windows 10, but it will pretty soon.
Microsoft says that this change was implemented for Invoke speaker last week, and the old ‘Hey Cortana’ commend still works too, should you want to keep using it.
The move to just use ‘Cortana’ instead of ‘Hey Cortana’ is a good move for the company because it becomes easier to summon, just like Amazon’s ALexa. Last year, Microsoft and Amazon partnered up to further integrate both Alexa and Cortana so that both digital assistants can be used on rival devices. This was supposed to be done by the end of last year, but it’s clearly taking longer. On a recent Windows Insider podcast, Microsoft officials revealed that they’re currently testing integration internally, and at this time, there is no public release date set.
