It was just in the previous year that big players from the technology landscape—Microsoft and Amazon—made a rather unexpected announcement. Their respective digital assistants, Alexa and Cortana, would soon function together on a single device. Users of Alexa will now be able to summon Cortana for sending emails through Outlook and manage calendar, simply with the voice. Likewise, Cortana users will have the liberty to call on Alexa and make use of her many skills and control smart devices present in their homes.

Pairing the two assistants is very easy, and it needs enabling the Cortana skill on the Alexa app on Android or iOS. From the app’s menu, one should tap on Skills proceeded by searching for Cortana and tap to enable.  The user will receive a link to his/her Microsoft account and clicking on ‘I agree’ will directly sign in to the Microsoft account credentials. Once the Cortana skill is enabled, a user simply needs to say “Alexa, Open Cortana.” But the collaboration is still in its limited testing form, and for those using Windows 10, Echo or Harmon Kaidon devices will be able to use both the virtual assistants on these devices. The collaboration does include most but not all of the features of the virtual assistants.

Now that Amazon and Microsoft have formed a positive working partnership, Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, is also willing to welcome Apple and Google on similar integration. In a press statement, Bezos articulated that in the distant future, there are going to be various agents that would have numerous data sets and specialize in different skill areas.