Microsoft acquires AI-driven scheduling service Genee

Microsoft has announced the acquisition of Genee. The startup, which launched in 2014, will join Microsoft's Office team and will add its AI-driven scheduling service to Microsoft's productivity services.

Genee works with an iOS app and old-fashioned email, along with messaging chatbots for Facebook, Twitter, Skype and even with SMS. All of these methods allow the user to send Genee an email address to set up a requested meeting time, location and more, which is then automatically added to their calendar.

According to a blog post from Genee, its service will shut down on September 1 as a result of its acquisition by Microsoft:

While Genee will no longer send you useful reminders and agendas from your calendar, all existing calendar entries created by Genee will remain. We thank all of you who participated in Genee's private and public betas. The Genee team will take the valuable experiences and lessons that you taught us to Microsoft, where we'll continue to build amazing next generation intelligent experiences.

Microsoft, as usual with these kinds of smaller acquisitions, did not reveal the financial details of this deal. Buying Genee is certainly keeping in Microsoft's current theme of developing more advanced artificial intelligent assistants for a variety of uses.

John Callaham