Cortana With Smart Replies Comes to Skype, Controls Smart Home Devices on Windows 10

Microsoft is adding new features to Cortana and integrating it with other services to find new use cases for its AI-powered virtual assistant and how customers can make the most out of it. To start, Skype now supports Cortana and lets users find answers to their queries without leaving the conversation.

Cortana will now offer in-context assistance to Skype users, the company announced this week. Among things that Cortana will come in handy for include ability to suggest useful information based on your chat. So for instance, if you're talking about a movie, Cortana will suggest quick access to movie reviews.

Additionally, Cortana is also offering "smart replies", a feature that understands the context of a message and suggests a handful of responses. Tap on the response and you've moved the conversation forward. Google recently introduced this feature in Gmail, and LinkedIn has offered a similar feature in its messaging feature for some time as well.

You can also use Cortana to organise your day. The AI-powered digital assistant will figure out when you're talking about scheduling events, or things that you would like to set as reminders, and prompt you with quick options to save them.

But perhaps more importantly, Cortana is now also a contact on Skype, so you can talk to her in natural conversations and have your questions answered. The company says it has stayed to roll out the feature on Android and iOS in United States, and for now, there is no word on how soon we could expect these features to arrive in India.

Separately, Microsoft has quietly added a "connected home" section to Cortana on Windows 10 PC. The new option allows users to link their connected home devices and be able to control them from their computer itself. As of now, the feature supports smart home devices from Wink, Insteon, Nest, SmartThings, and Hue brands.