Microsoft Rolls Out Cortana To Eavesdrop On Your Skype Chats, But Will You Opt-In?

This means if you ask someone to go to the movies with you, it will give you access to movie times. If someone asks you to remember to do something, Cortana will offer to set a reminder on your phone. Cortana can also suggest smart replies so you can respond to messages faster and more easily, without having to type. The reminders that Cortana sets for you can be received on all devices you own with Cortana enabled.

Microsoft has also made its digital assistant a contact in Skype. When you send chat messages to Cortana, the assistant can reply with pertinent information. You can ask all sorts of questions ranging from directions to a restaurant, the name of an actor in a movie you want to see, flight status, stock quotes and more. You can also ask how to get places and get directions right in the chat window.

Cortana in Skype started rolling out yesterday and will be available for iOS and Android customers in the U.S. With Microsoft signaling yesterday that Windows Phone is dead, there will be no Cortana for Skype on that platform.

As with most things today, there is a rub with Cortana on Skype; it reads your conversations. Some people who are concerned about privacy won't like that at all. There is potential for things like ad targeting based on what you are talking about with Cortana reading your messages, but there is no indication that is happening now. If you don't like the idea of Cortana reading your private chats, simply don't opt into the feature.