Cortona and Alexa are getting friendly.
That’s just one of the headlines from the annual Microsoft BUILD conference, taking place through Wednesday at the Washington State Convention Center.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced a new partnership between the company and Amazon to integrate the voice activated technology. It was part of a demonstration before developers and programmers from across the world.
“It's a great example of a different culture that's taken root at Microsoft in the last four years or so,” said Microsoft Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela. “We have a firm belief we should be where our customers are. If that means they love their iPhone we should bring Office to their iPhone. If that means they love their Android tablet, we should bring Minecraft to their Android tablet. If that means they love Alexa and their Amazon Echo, they should bring Cortana to their Amazon Echo.”
Nadella also announced a pledge to spend $25 million on AI for Accessibility, issuing grants for developers who seek ways to help out the disabled.
Microsoft also announced a partnership with drone maker DJI to offer the ability to stream drone video straight to the cloud, demonstrating on stage an aerial examination of a pipe.
“All the dangerous, dirty, and dull work that people don't want to have human beings do,” added Capossela. “That’s an amazing cost saver and risk avoider.”
Nadella also offered up the Bot Framework to developers. He called them the “new apps,” often used for customer service on websites.
“You can give it customer speech, even give it custom personality,” he said. “You need to be able to have your own agent that can directly talk to customers.”
