Microsoft’s new voice-activated virtual assistant for Windows Phone has fallen foul of US child-protection rules and can’t be used by anyone under the age of 13.
If anyone under the age of 13 asks Cortana for help, it responds with, “I’m sorry, you’ll need to be bit older before I can help you.”
Named after the AI computer from the Halo games, Cortana is a virtual personal assistant that responds to your spoken questions and commands, looking up information for you or controlling your Windows Phone. It gets to know you, in the process collecting data and sending it to Microsoft’s servers. That means Cortana falls under the auspices of the US government’s Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
COPPA polices the information young people can share online without the consent of a parental unit. Cortana doesn’t have the necessary parental controls – but then it is only in beta at this stage so this may change when it goes public.
Cortana and Windows Phone 8.1 are currently available to developers. It’s in a Microsoft forum that the issue has emerged, with a developer asking Microsoft to help their young daughter try the technology out.
Of course, Cortana only knows how old you are if you tell it. It’s unclear whether changing your date of birth will allow Cortana to chat with you if you’re under 13.
Cortana is part of Windows Phone 8.1, and takes on rival virtual assistants such as Android’s Google Now and Apple’s Siri for the iPhone. Microsoft has proclaimed it as the first personal digital assistant, which means that it will customise results over time as it learns more information about you.