Microsoft releases Cortana, an intelligent personal assistant, initially created for Windows operating systems. It was first demonstrated at the Microsoft BUILD Developer Conference in San Francisco.
Named after a synthetic intelligence character in Microsoft's Halo video game franchise with Jen Taylor as the character's voice actress, Cortana returns as a voice personal assistant to aid users in performing tasks on Windows before expanding to other operating systems.
The project began in 2009 in the Microsoft Speech products team with General Manager Zig Serafin and Chief Scientist Larry Heck. They established the vision, mission, and long-range plan for Microsoft's digital-personal-assistant technology, and they built a team that consists of experts to create the first prototypes of Cortana.