Microsoft promises to bring Cortana to more devices in 2018

As Google Assistant and Alexa dominate CES’s AI space with news of more devices and wider reach, Microsoft is promising that there’ll be more devices with Cortana over next year, seriously.

“With the support of both existing and new partnerships, we’re continuing to bring Cortana to even more places in the office, at home and on the go. Regardless of the device or context, our goal is to put Cortana everywhere you need assistance, whether that is on your PC, phone, Xbox, mixed reality headsets, intelligent home speakers, thermostats and even more in the future,” Microsoft’s CVP of AI Products Jordi Ribas writes on the Windows Blog, “You’ll continue to see Cortana integrated on your favorite devices and services throughout the year to come.”

Microsofts blog post seems aimed at soothing the concerns around Cortana, as the firm has fallen behind Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Assistant in ubiquity, and Microsoft doesn’t intend to compete with the Apple HomePod with a first party device of its own.

The firm has announced that it is working to create reference devices from  Allwinner, Synaptics, TONLY and Qualcomm, but no actual consumer hardware at the moment.

Microsoft’s announcement is helpful in demonstrating the company is still invested in Cortana for the present time. Whether that investment is going to lead to meaningful development in the future, has yet to be proven.