Microsoft brings a touch of Cortana to Skype Preview

With the latest update, Microsoft is bringing its AI assistant to the Skype Preview app. Unfortunately, this is only for US users.

If you love the way Google has integrated its AI assistant into the Allo app but you’ve always been more of a Microsoft person, this may interest you: the multinational technology company is bringing a touch of Cortana to its video-chatting app, Skype. If you use Skype Preview and you’re a US user, you should see Cortana as a chat option on the main screen. Asking her questions like “What’s the weather like?” or “Where is the nearest Chinese restaurant?” will bring up interactive answers and widgets.

The latest update to Skype Preview brings other handful of features, and those are available for non-US users as well:

• Panoramic photos – share panoramic photos with friends via chat or your highlights.
• Sprinkles – simply tap on the wand to add fun Sprinkles to your photos.
• Cortana – We’re bringing the intelligent assistance of Cortana into Skype (US only).
• General performance and reliability improvements.

Skype Preview is, as you may have guessed, where Microsoft tests new features before officially releasing them for the regular Skype app. In other words, there’s no way of knowing whether the features outlined above will make their way to the general public, but if you’d like to give them a go, click the link below to download Skype Preview on your device: