Microsoft Build 2016 Highlights: AI is the future

Microsoft Build 2016 went live from San Francisco yesterday and, despite no new hardware announcements, especially no new Windows Phone, there were still a few things to be awed by. So here’s a quick wrap up of the highlights from the event.

First and foremost, Windows 10 will be receiving an Anniversary Update this summer, free for all Windows 10 users. Among its many new features is the addition of biometric security for websites. That means you can log in to a website using your fingerprint, or with your face using Windows Hello. It also brings the option to turn any retail Xbox One into a dev kit, as well as bringing Cortana and Windows 10 apps to the console. To be more specific, Cortana is now on the lock screen as well. Microsoft also lets you give Cortana the permission to read your Outlook emails and texts. She can scan both incoming and outgoing messages for any time-bound appointments, and add them into your calendar.



More importantly, the update adds a completely new feature, Windows Ink. There’s an all new workspace for Ink that will display your recently used apps with Ink, as well as tips and other suggested apps. Sticky Notes, Cortana, and Bing, will also support Ink, alongside text recognition. That means you can write a note for yourself about a meeting the next day, and Cortana will recognise the word “tomorrow” and add the appointment into your calendar. In addition, Bing can also recognise locations in handwritten notes. Another application is using Maps to make annotations. You can mark two points of interest on Maps using Ink, and then draw a line between them to measure the distance. There’s also a bunch of virtual tools, including a virtual ruler that you can drag to move and rotate. As Microsoft’s Bryan Roper said, "We're going to make sure we solve for the tasks that people are reaching for their pen and paper for." More importantly, the company is looking to make it easy for developers to include Ink support in their apps, stressing, that you can do it with the addition of just two lines of code.



Another important thing to mention is that Microsoft is really pushing its Universal Apps platform. Starbucks, Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger are all coming to Windows 10 as Universal Apps. On top of that, Microsoft is launching a new Desktop App Converter for developers. It takes a simple .exe or.msi installer for a Windows program and converts it to a modern app, complete with Live Tile, Notifications and Xbox One Controllers. Frankly, the best part of this demonstration might have been seeing both Age of Empires II: HD Edition and The Witcher III as modern apps sporting Live Tiles. In addition, as we mentioned earlier, Xbox One is also getting the Anniversary Update as well as Cortana and Universal apps. In addition to this is another not easily overlooked feature; the ability to play background music while playing a game. PC gamers might take this for granted, but it’s quite likely this little tidbit is as exciting for console fans, or maybe even more so, than Cortana making an appearance. And, in a logical conclusion to Universal apps, Microsoft will be putting all of this together in a Universal App Store, with PC, Windows Phone, and Xbox Apps available side by side.



There were also a bunch of updates surrounding the HoloLens, dev kits for which began shipping today. The Galaxy Explorer app, just released, let’s you fly around and see our galaxy from various vantage points. It was the vote winner in Microsoft’s Share Your Idea campaign for the HoloLens. Additionally, the Case Western Reserve University demonstrated how its medical students can make use of HoloLens to study anatomy much quicker than before, and NASA announced a new “Destination Mars” exhibit they’ll open soon, where visitors can use the HoloLens to walk on Mars alongside Buzz Aldrin.



But probably Microsoft’s biggest announcements at the event were not even something you’ll pay attention to unless you’re a developer: bots. Microsoft new focus is on AI, and boy are they serious about it. Yes, they did bring up the failed experiment that was Tay.ai, although that’s only on hold for now, not completely out of the  picture. CEO Satya Nadella talked about how they “want to build technology so it gets the best of humanity, not the worst." And they want to build that technology into EVERYTHING.



To start with, Cortana is coming to Skype as well. You can use her  to moderate a conversation with another app bot, like when you want to book tickets, or have a package delivered. As Microsoft’s Lilian Rincon demonstrated, when receiving a bot message about a delivery, Cortana sends her a private message on Skype, asking whether she should allow the delivery bot to track Rincon’s location. When Cortana helps her book a hotel room in Dublin, she also suggests Rincon contact a friend who lives there, based on past patterns of calling her while in the area. As far as calls go, you can now leave video notes in Skype, with the added feature that Cortana will use translator technology to transcribe the message right below the video. Microsoft also talked about bringing bots into real-time video chats in the future. And to facilitate all of this Microsoft has released a Cortana Intelligence Suite, and Bot Builder framework. Both are open source, and let developers take advantage of Cortana and machine learning experience which they can integrate into their own apps.



To put that into perspective, it’s only a matter of time before a simple “Hey Cortana, what’s for dinner” will pull up the information that it’s a Saturday night, you’ve stayed in the past two weeks, and therefore you’re a sad little man who wants his regular weekend pizza for one. On the plus side, at least it won’t involve talking to anyone to get that pizza, right?