Cortana is now offering automatic predictions of who will win upcoming NFL games

Windows Phone 8.1 users who are also big NFL fans will now be able to get automatic predictions of who might win upcoming games via Cortana in the latest example of Microsoft's server-side update to its digital assistant.

In the past, Cortana users could ask it for its predictions of who will win NFL games, based on Microsoft's Bing search engine algorithms. Now Cortana will offer those same predictions without any prompting from the user, if the user has his or her favorite time listed under Interests.

Again, this is a server-side update so there's no download needed to see this new feature. What other automatic inquiries should Cortana add next?

Thanks to Gregory B and many others for the tip!

John Callaham
90 Comments
  • Yip,it said Green Bay will beat the Pats on my phone:/
  • She wasn't quite so optimistic on mine... "Even Bing isn't positive about the Green Bay Packers taking victory, but they have the edge."
  • Said the same thing bout cards/falcons. Maybe they all say the same thing?
  • GO PACK GO!!!
  • No Pats love here?   Well I'll say GO PATS.
  • It would be great if Cortana offered predictions for college football too!
  • That would be nice, seasons almost over though.
  • Agreed!
  • Cortana doesn't offer me anything, I live in the UK so don't have it yet, and suspect I'll never get it, Microsoft are beyond slow on updates, I hate Microsoft with a passion.
  • What phone do you have I have Cortana and I'm uk
  • Lumia 635 you must have a 730 or 830. I can get I if I pretend to be American, but why should I, and that mucks a load of other stuff up. Must of us Lumia users just want the update that was promised in "weeks not months" by microsoft in July. It's just not gonna happen. I don't think Microsoft realize how much their neglect in updating puts ppl off windows phone and turns ppl away who already have it.
  • You're a moron.
  • How is your last comment tangledw constructive?
  • Glad she was wrong about the eagles and cowboys game!!! Go birds!!!!
  • What a game that was too!!
  • She's getting cocky I see .... :)
  • Cortana go English premiere league. become official predictor of real Madrid. Go big Cortana. EPL is waiting.
  • Premier league definitely! +1520
  • I wish she would predict when she's getting liberated all over the world. Probably too far in the future though, I understand her for not trying
  • I want to know that every new feature added in Cortana ..will automatically available for users or i have to do something?
  • They're done as server-side updates, so no intervention is needed by you. All done from Microsoft directly. :)
  • Thnx for clarification :)
  • "who will win the giants game?"
    "not the giants."
    "you're the worst, Cortana."
  • Favorite times? Did you mean teams?
  • "If the truth hurts, wear it!" ;)
  • Very personal, it's scary how much detail is being put in Microsoft's hand in order to use Cortana...
  • It comes from bing search engine, google is far more data mining than bing
  • Still data mining with Google far superior. Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • Saw this yesterday for the upcoming Vikings game. Really cool!
  • Well she was wrong about the cowboys beating my eagles, but this is nice.
  • Yes and I've been enjoying this...
  • Getting tired of these crystal ball theatrics. Overdue to hear Cortana actuall doing something useful other than these predictions as all it seems she's able to do is just that. If you're going to make Cortana announcements at least make her do things that businesses and regular consumers can find useful in day to day usage. Waiting to hear that whenever Cortana is opened that it she calls your name for everything. Do that and we'll be very impressed.
  • You mean like geofenced reminders, time.based reminders, drive time reminders, and all those features?
  • All those are available
  • Like I said tell me that not SHOW it!!!!
  • Have to agree... If it can be displayed as text, there is no reason why Cortana can't say the first result or two, and then ask if she should read the next couple, and so on.
  • There's a feedback portion for just that in the Cortana app itself. Try ranting there ;)
  • I would love some MLS information on Cortana.
  • Could some of you with Cortana please tell her to predict when the capital H she and MS will start servicing outside the US for a change...
  • If they can stop adding features to Cortana and start rolling her out to other languages that would be lovely!
  • Nope, we need those cool features, if you need her, then switch to the U.S. Cause that's what we all did, ie those leaving outside the U.S.
  • Not all are from us using Cortana, uk version here
  • So this is what Microsoft thinks is important for Cortana, predicting NFL results.
    Jeez Microsoft, you would think would be more concerned in getting Cortana outside of the US.
    This is why Windows Phone is failing in global consumer sales, because Microsoft only delivers its consumer services to US users only.
    Google and Apple are world leaders and will remain so.
  • Microsoft is an American country. Why don't you have your country develop something if you're unhappy with it.
  • Umm... what?
  • Amen CMUchippewa,. So tired of scuzbag countries acting like an American company needs to cater to them. Lick our collective asses and enjoy the taste cause you always come back for more.
  • Wow, do you realise that without the support from NON-US consumers, Windows Phone would be long dead? In its Home Country, US, it's being outdone so badly that individual Asian OEMs (like, HTC, Samsung and Sony) have many times the marketshare as the whole WP operating system? People get upset when you bite the hand that feeds you. Nobody's asking that NFL predictions not be added. But that more 'global' sports, like the UEFA Champions League, for example, deserve to come before a sport that only Americans play. Microsoft's biased support doesn't end with Cortana. Bing has historically been a much better experience for Americans than other users. Microsoft may be a US-based country, but if they're gonna serve international customers, they better stop with the bias act, because we don't see Apple and Google doing it, and those two are ahead because of it. Otherwise, they might as well just be a US-only company.
  • Not talking specifically about MS. Pick a major US company, any one, they always ahead of everyone else.
  • Right. And also no other cellphone company would've supported WP as Nokia (European) did. So without it WP would've been long dead by now.
  • Remember we get Three NFL games in London each year so it at least need to come to the British Version .
  • Oh wow what an increadibly stupid reply. I am from the UK, where computer technology started, and the ARM chip designs are sourced from. I also developing in .NET for ten years, and 2.5 millions Windows Phone downloads. Buy yeah, keep to your US centric views. Meanwhile Google and Apple understand that delivering their consumer services in Europe, Asia, South America and Australia pays off with consumer market share.    
  • Microsoft prides itself on being a GLOBAL company. Beore you talk about how it's American so should only serve Americans, consider just how much America relies on (nay, DEMANDS of) other countries too. In this day and age, nobody is truly self-sufficient without making huge sacrifice.   Anyway, my opinion: it's a bad look for Microsoft to be focusing so much on freakin' SPORTS features (which a lot of people really don't care about) and AMERICAN sports in particular (which even less people care about, on a world stage), when what they really should be doing is RELEASING THE DAMN THING TO MORE COUNTRIES! Yes yes it's all ncie to add features but Microsoft, where do your priorities lie??
  • That was a pretty stupid response. I am from the UK, where the first computers were created and the source of the ARM chip designs, etc.  I also have 2.5 Million downloads of my Windows hone App, and have been developing in .NET for thwe last 10 years. But yeah, keep to your US centric views if you want. Apple and Google don't and that is why they are succeeding in Europe, South America, Asia and Australia.  
  • The only reason I give MS a pass on this is for beefing up their NFL partnership. That said, I don't care for any of the major American sports, so I won't be using this new feature.
  • Forget predictions! How come it can't tell me who won the NFL game or who's winning at the time?
  • Oops! Hahaha
  • She can't even TELL me what time it is... She just display it. What good does that do when I have the time right there at the top of the display. You might be asking for too much ;) I'm getting quite a bit discouraged by Microsoft lately....
  • This is toy stuff, they better improve Cortana to be useful outside US. Bored of predictions news.
  • Again... Only for those with Cortana Beta. The alpha countries see none of this.
  • I don't understand the big deal about predictions. Useless.
  • For all y'all complainers? Development takes time to have it perfected. Cortana (technically) is still in BETA, even in the states, so we have awhile before all features are available everywhere. Development is not easy....and in fact, is an art form needing to be perfected in many ways. Patience, young grasshoppers!
  • It's advertised fairly often on TV. Hard to consider it beta, at least in the USA.
  • You're a sweet and understanding guy. Cortana and Windows Phone need a demon if they ever want to succeed. Someone who knows what needs to be done to make things a success, and who will not allow petty excuses such as 'it is so difficult'...
  • That's the trouble: Global laws, legality, and social attitudes are quite different in Western civilization than they are in other parts of the world. (Arguably, for better or for worse, depending who you ask.) But in launching any new service, the company must abide by these laws to ensure a fully-understanding and respectful ideal in the products it makes for the base country and/or target market. My guess? Because Windows 10 is expected in spring next year, my assumption would be Cortana would need to be near-completed or done to launch on that platform. Given that many other users are actually outside the USA, Microsoft has to recognize that as a huge step in innovation. All this fluff points back to my bottom line: Patience! It will happen ;)
  • East Africa, we are waiting for our version!
  • What about NBA? Just checked mine and nothing, not even if I asked
  • How about predicting the next twitter/instagram updates
  • Twitter may get updated in the coming months. Instagram I feel may never get updated......
  • Predictions for football. Actual football, not soccer.
  • notice the picture it says "bears will beat the detroit" to bad you were wrong Cortana
  • Can this Cortana woman come to South Africa, tired of Switching regions every time I want to download local apps.
  • Major League Soccer.
  • NBA predictions would be amazing
  • Cortana offering nothing for old loyal wp8 users who owns older Nokia Lumia in UK. L920
  • Movie creater beta app works with cortana.. Not seen the news about it.
  • Honestly, I don't see a real purpose in that. The way how those predictions are calculated might be very impressive (depending on the factors and variables) but the real-world purpose is kinda nonexistent. If the calculations should really be this complicated/advanced, I think the spent processing powert should be used for more important things.
  • +100000000000
  • To those who responded to my comment, since you've lost the entire meaning of AUDIBLE geo-fenced,time and drive reminders. For all the reminders Cortana does none of it is said out loud.
  • They need to fix it! Cortana had two bad predictions of the eagles losing and the Seahawks losing! And now she saying my Patriots are gonna lose! She crazy!
  • *team, rather than time?
  • NHL predictions next
  • Oh, and the bears won't beat the cowboys.
  • Barclays Premier League predictions would be great!
  • Agreed
  • Predictions to all games must be done by cortana. Different countries have different interests n games running. So y stick to only NFL everytime?
  • Hopefully BPL too
  • Can Cortana predict when will it come to India?
  • Haha!! Exactly or South Africa or the other 98% of the world that don't care coz they have google now on their galaxy so why bother switching to a platform that clearly focuses only on the US!!!
  • Wow, how useful feature this is...
  • Why so much time and resources on stupid, pointless prediction engines..???? WHHHYYYY????