![[ms-cortana.jpeg|400]] [Wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cortana_(Кортана).jpeg) Microsoft Cortana is a virtual assistant developed by Microsoft named after the AI character in the Halo video game series. Cortana was first introduced on Windows Phone in 2014, where it served as a personal assistant, providing users with voice-activated access to search, reminders, and other features. Microsoft later expanded Cortana's capabilities to other platforms, including Windows 10, Xbox, and smart home devices. Cortana's features and capabilities are similar to those of other virtual assistants, such as Siri and Alexa, and include natural language processing, contextual awareness, and integration with third-party services and apps. However, unlike its competitors, Cortana was also designed to be deeply integrated with Microsoft's suite of productivity tools, such as Office 365 and Outlook. This meant that users could use Cortana to manage their calendars, emails, and other work-related tasks, making it a popular choice for business users. Despite its early promise, Cortana has struggled to gain traction in the virtual assistant market, particularly in comparison to rivals like Alexa and Google Assistant. Microsoft has since shifted its focus away from Cortana as a standalone assistant and towards integrating its features into other Microsoft products and services, such as the Windows search bar and the Microsoft Teams collaboration platform. The development of Cortana started in 2009 in the Microsoft Speech products team with general manager Zig Serafin and Chief Scientist Larry Heck that put together a team at Microsoft Research. The team included researchers Dilek Hakkani-Tür (ICSI), Gokhan Tur (SRI), Andreas Stolcke (SRI), and Malcolm Slaney (Yahoo!).