Cognitive agent

A virtual assistant is a software agent that can perform tasks or services for an individual. These tasks or services are based on user input, location awareness, and the ability to access information from a variety of online sources (such as weather or traffic conditions, news, stock prices, user schedules, retail prices, etc.). Examples of such an agent are Microsoft's Office Assistant and later Cortana, Apple's Siri, Google's Google Home, Google Now (earlier Android versions had voice search via Google Search; later Google introduced Google Assistant). Amazon Alexa, Amazon's Evi (branded as Evi), the open source Mycroft, Braina (application developed by Brainasoft for Microsoft Windows), Samsung's S Voice, LG G3's Voice Mate, BlackBerry's Assistant, SILVIA, HTC's Hidi, IBM's Watson (computer), Facebook's M (virtual assistant) and One Voice Technologies (IVAN).