Microsoft shuts down Windows’ Cortana voice assistant as it chases AI ambitions

Enlarge / Cortana is gradually fading from Windows and other Microsoft products. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

Microsoft is working to cram its new ChatGPT-powered Bing Chat service into every product it makes, and starting this fall it will be a built-in feature of Windows 11. It makes sense, then, that Microsoft is also working to shut down its last stab at an automated virtual assistant—the standalone Cortana app in Windows 10 and Windows 11 is going to stop working this month, and Microsoft is pointing users toward Bing Chat and Windows Copilot instead.

Some users have reported that the Cortana app has already stopped working entirely following an app update. On a PC running a fully up-to-date version of Windows 11 22H2, my Cortana app still functions, but it told me that "Cortana in Windows is going away soon."

Microsoft has been pulling back on its support for Cortana for years, ending support for the iOS and Android versions in early 2021 and removing it from the Windows taskbar in Windows 11 a few months later. Before that, Microsoft had already removed most third-party app integrations, refocusing the assistant entirely on basic productivity tasks and Bing searches.

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