Microsoft's Latest Ad Bashes Siri For Not Being As Smart As Its Own Virtual Assistant

Microsoft has been touting its new virtual assistant, Cortana, as a personal aid that learns more about you the more you interact with it.

In its latest ad, the company is out to prove Cortana is much smarter and more practical than Apple's Siri.

During the ad, the narrator asks a series of questions to an iPhone 5s and Nokia Lumia 635 at the same time.

When he asks the phones to remind him to say "Happy Anniversary" to his wife next time she calls, Cortana responds by confirming that she has set a reminder for the next time Caroline calls. Siri, however, doesn't comprehend the request.

The new ad is similar to Microsoft's previous commercials pitting the Surface Pro against the iPad, in which the company lined up both devices side by side in an effort to show the viewer than its tablet can do more than Apple's.

Cortana is one of Microsoft's biggest additions to its latest mobile operating system, Windows Phone 8.1. Although Cortana is debuting years after both Apple and Google have introduced their own virtual assistants, Microsoft believes Cortana has some serious advantages over the competition.

The company says it's designed Cortana to feel more human-like than Google Now or Siri, and it's currently the only virtual assistant that allows you to set reminders based on phone calls.

The fact that Cortana feels like you're talking to a real person rather than a search engine is one of its biggest perks over Google, Microsoft's senior vice president of product development Marcus Ash previously told Business Insider:

Google has got a decision to make around how they're going to create a personality. They have to really think hard about what the future of these assistants is going to be, and whether or not people are going to get used to talking to a search engine. People love the fact that they can talk to this like they're talking to a person.

Check out the video below to see the full commercial.