SEATTLE - At its Build developer conference, Microsoft further detailed how Microsoft’s Cortana and Amazon’s Alexa will work together. Microsoft’s Megan Saunders, general manager of Cortana and Tom Taylor, SVP at Amazon showed off how it works.

In the demo, Saunders was in her house, with Alexa in the kitchen and added milk to her shopping list. But Cortana, she explained, is where she keeps her calendar and her email.

“Alexa, open Cortana,” she said, and summoned Microsoft’s assistant to open her calendar about a meeting with Taylor. Then, she sent dictated Cortana an email to send Taylor.

Then Saunders checked Outlook on his PC and saw the email. He asked Cortana where the restaurant they were meeting is, then asked Cortana to “open Alexa,” which he asked to summon an Uber X to get to the restaurant. Then, he had Alexa use its smart home functionality to turn off the lights.

Finally, he asked what Alexa thinks of Microsoft’s assistant.

“I like Cortana," Alexa said. We both have experience with light rings, although hers is more of a Halo,” a reference to the Xbox video series with an AI Cortana is named after.



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