Skype is increasingly appearing on connected TV sets with built-in cameras and apps. Microsoft will continue to invest in and support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms. Skype will support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and a wide array of Windows devices, and Microsoft will connect Skype users with Lync, Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities. The real-time communications service has 170 million connected users, and for Microsoft, that was too good to pass up. However, it said that it's still fine-tuning the chatbot, which has run into a number of speed bumps after more people got their hands on it.Update: In a record acquisition for the company, Microsoft announced this morning it’s buying Skype for $8.5 billion. Microsoft notes that it could (and probably will) bring the chatbot to other apps, such as Teams. While it's early days for the chatbot, it could finally spell the end for Cortana after years of the voice assistant gradually fading into the background. Microsoft has added voice control on both mobile and desktop. There's also another way to use the chatbot. It can translate information between more than 100 languages too. You might use the chatbot to help plan a trip and let everyone else see the suggestions at the same time, or settle a debate by asking it to clarify which movies an actor has appeared in over the last decade. Users can converse with it one-on-one or add it to a group chat. On top of that, you can start using the chatbot in Skype. In the Edge mobile app, you can fire up the chatbot from the homepage. Tapping the Bing button at the bottom of the namesake mobile app will start a chat session. Starting today, those with access to the chatbot through their Microsoft account can use it on the Edge and Bing mobile apps for Android and iOS.

But Microsoft is already bringing it to more products, services and devices. Until now, the only way to access the chatbot has been through the Edge desktop browser. Since it started opening up its generative AI-powered chatbot in Bing earlier this month, Microsoft has granted more than a million people access to a preview of the tool, while millions more are on the waitlist.

Skype sign in with facebook and xbox