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and analysis makes it one of those dig-
ital assistants to take note of. What can
Cortana do for you? It can take notes
for you, draft e-mail if you dictate and
manage your phone calls. Interestingly,
it can also proactively give suggestions
on what to eat, provide reminders for
your meetings and prompt you to make
credit card payments or utility bills on
time. Limitless possibilities. Sounds
interesting…
How does Cortana manage all these?
Microsoft has given us a tool which has
huge potential. Cortana is working on
the new craze of Artificiel Intelligence
(AI). Whatever you ask Cortana to do,
it sends those data to Microsoft data
centres along with thousands of data
collected similarly from other devices
across the world.
To take notes
Say “Hey Cortana” followed by “new note.”
Cortana responds with “What’s your note?”
Dictate the content.
Your note will be automatically saved to
your OneNote account.
To set reminders
Say “Hey Cortana,” and tell it what you want
to remember in natural speech.
When the relevant circumstances are met,
you’ll get an alert on your PC or Windows Phone.
For example, a person-based reminder will pop
up next time you receive an email, phone call,
or text from that person.
To send e-mail
Say “Hey Cortana” followed by “send an email.”
Cortana will open the quick-message window
and ask whom the message is going to.
Say the name of the
These data are analyzed and appropriate decisions made for Cortana by the AI modules.
The AI data centres are constantly updated with new features and capabilities, and in
fact, this same AI processing is used by various other Microsoft flagship projects. Micro-
soft has the world’s most powerful, intelligent and flexible cloud, and Cortana is tapping
into that intelligence to bring the best for us.
But we should not ignore the issue of privacy. Once we start using Cortana and be
dependent on her, are we not going to lose our decision making power? Since Cortana
is passing our data to Microsoft data centres, are we not losing our privacy? In the end,
will our activities be controlled by some data crunching machines rather than our pic-
turesque imaginations? Those are questions to be pondered and to be dealt with not
because of Cortana, but the intelligence powering it, “Artificiel Intelligence” which is
going to take the world over soon in various forms.
October 2017
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DoIT Newsletter