As a veteran in the field, Microsoft is a trustworthy company when it comes to artificial intelligence. But is it expecting too much of itself? Consumers are becoming increasingly hungry for quick, easy-to-use, automated services, and the strain this demand puts on Microsoft and similar companies is beginning to show.

At the Build conference in 2016, Microsoft spoke of putting autonomous conversational robots into Twitter, Skype, HoloLens, and other related systems. The robot for Twitter only lasted a few hours, suffering defeat from a different robot. The company has adjusted its goals for this year, looking to use artificial intelligence only for small, information-based tasks.

Fortunately, Microsoft already has the upper hand with OneDrive, which can store and protect huge amounts of data. It has also implemented many subtle artificial intelligence functions for Office and PowerPoint, including face identification, colour matching, and fact sourcing.

The company also has artificial intelligence built into Outlook’s Focused Inbox feature that learns from the user’s direct and indirect actions. Mobile device versions of the system are being downloaded more often as time passes, despite Word consistently employing artificial intelligence in its system for things like grammar revision.

Unfortunately, Microsoft’s artificial intelligence helper Cortana isn’t being used much. To work properly, users must type out the command and then say it clearly so the computer’s speakers can pick it up. The company hopes that Cortana will be more successful when built into iOS and Android apps, though it will have to compete with Siri.

Microsoft has the potential to draw attention to itself by discussing technological tools with other companies - tools that allow those companies to use Microsoft as a host for artificial intelligence. By creating a link between two elements, it could benefit greatly without needing to hammer in their relation to Cortana.

If the tech empire continues to share and explain their products to customers in a relatable manner, their success with artificial intelligence products and otherwise will no doubt increase in the years to come.