Microsoft's Genee Acquisition Reflects Drive to AI-Enable Digital Experience

Microsoft Corp. on Monday said it has agreed to buy Genee, a "smart" scheduling app, as the company continues its effort to embed AI in all of its digital experiences. Rajesh Jha, vice president of Microsoft's Outlook and Office 365 business, said in a blog post that the acquisition will help "further our ambition to bring intelligence into every digital experience" as it builds new Office 365 productivity capabilities and services. Powered by AI, Genee could be used to enhance Microsoft's own virtual assistant, Cortana, which competes with Alphabet's Google Now and Apple Inc.'s Siri. By reading users' emails, Cortana can track packages and set reminders based on location, and other tasks. With Genee, it would be able to automatically set up business meetings by recognizing key phrases in emails. Both Google Now and Siri can interact with calendars to coordinate meetings on command, said Mike Gualtieri, a principal analyst at Forrester Research.