Microsoft outlines intelligence vision for Windows 10

Microsoft’s India-born CEO Satya Nadella on Wednesday outlined the technology giant’s vision to combine the power of human language with advanced machine intelligence as he announced new updates to the operating system Windows 10 to create more personal computing for every customer.

“As an industry, we are on the cusp of a new frontier that pairs the power of natural human language with advanced machine intelligence,” Nadella said in his keynote address to thousands of developers at Build 2016, its annual mega-gathering of developers that kicked-off today where the company presents its latest tools and technologies.

“At Microsoft, we call this Conversations as a Platform, and it builds on and extends the power of the Microsoft Azure, Office 365 and Windows platforms to empower developers everywhere,” Nadella said.

Nadella and executive vice president of Windows and Devices Group Terry Myerson outlined to the developers Microsoft’s strategy about the work it is doing to help them embrace the era of conversational intelligence and create more personal computing for every customer, industry and business.

Nadella showcased improvements to Cortana and announced previews of new cloud services and toolkits designed to create intelligent bots. Myerson announced the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, aimed to deliver significant new innovations for consumers and developers for the Universal Windows Platform. The update will be available later in the summer.

“With Windows 10 now running on over 270 million active devices, we’re celebrating with our fans by delivering the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. This significant update will help you interact with your Windows 10 devices as naturally as you interact with the world around you using your pen, presence and voice,” Myerson said.

“We are dedicated to making Windows the most productive development environment for all developers, with all-new capabilities for the Universal Windows Platform and all-new tools for bringing apps to Windows 10 from any platform.”

Speaking of Microsoft’s “more personal computing vision”, Nadella said Windows 10 “is off to an amazing start” with over 270 million active devices, outpacing Windows 7 by 145 percent. Customers have spent more time in Windows 10 than ever before over 75 billion hours since its launch eight months ago. The Windows 10 Anniversary Update features innovations for Windows Ink, Cortana, Windows Hello and gaming.

Microsoft introduced the ‘Cortana Intelligence Suite’, formerly known as the Cortana Analytics Suite, powered by research into big data, machine learning, perception, analytics and intelligent bots.

Built on Microsoft Azure, the company said these capabilities can be used by developers and businesses to create intelligent end-to-end solutions, including new apps that learn about the world around them and bots and agents that interact with people in personalised, intelligent ways. Among the new additions to the Cortana Intelligence Suite, is the ‘Microsoft Cognitive Services’, which is a collection of intelligence Application Program Interface (APIs) that allows systems to see, hear, speak, understand and interpret the users’ needs using natural methods of communication.

The ‘Microsoft Bot Framework’, can be used by developers programming in any language to build intelligent bots that enable customers to chat using natural language on a wide variety of platforms including text/SMS, Office 365, Skype, Slack, the Web and more.

Microsoft executives also spoke about Seeing AI, a research project under development that shows how new capabilities can help people who are visually impaired or blind better understand who and what is around them. Microsoft released the ‘Skype Bot Platform’, though which developers can build bots that leverage Skype’s multiple forms of communication, including text, voice, video and 3-D interactive characters.

Among the features that will become available this summer when the Windows 10 update becomes broadly available is the new Cortana with features that will enable the user to receive proactive guidance from Cortana throughout the day and speak with the virtual assistant, even while the device is locked, without logging in.

Microsoft also announced it began shipment of the Microsoft HoloLens Development Edition for the first time, “extending the Windows experience to holograms and allowing developers to begin helping build the future of holographic computing”.

Microsoft highlighted commercial customers in several industries that are using HoloLens, including NASA. Microsoft further shared all-new capabilities for the Universal Windows Platform, including full access to Cortana’s proactive intelligence and the Windows 10 Anniversary SDK, which offers all-new APIs and tools to integrate the latest Windows 10 innovations into apps, including Windows Ink and Windows Hello.