Microsoft has announced that it will integrate its Bing Chatbot into its smartphone keyboard app SwiftKey for Android and iOS.
This new integration will allow users to chat with bots powered with GPT-4 directly from their mobile keyboard and search without switching between apps. Today’s latest integration announcement includes making the chatbot accessible on Microsoft’s SwiftKey keyboard app, which was previously only in beta on Android but is now available on iOS as well.
The integration of the Bing chatbot into SwiftKey gives it three new functions: “Search”, “Chat”, and “Tone”. The first two options are quite straightforward — you can perform a web search directly from SwiftKey, and if you have any queries, you can chat with Bing. The “Tone” feature turns Bing into an editor, rewriting your text to match your desired tone, making it more professional, casual, polite, or concise enough for social posting. This feature will undoubtedly appeal to those who struggle with word choice and nuance when writing.
The company is also expanding access to chatbots in Skype group chats, allowing seamless communication between individuals and the bot. Additionally, Microsoft is introducing new integrations into its lesser-known Start app, which combines a personal news feed, search engine, weather app, etc.
While integrating keyboards and AI isn’t necessarily a new idea, Microsoft’s move is significant, as it usurps the position currently occupied by rivals such as Google and Apple. Microsoft has always been a pioneer in the technology field, and integrating the Bing chatbot into SwiftKey is yet another example of its innovation in the field.
It’s worth noting that this is the first update to SwiftKey for iOS in a long time, and Microsoft had previously planned to deprecate the app. However, integrating Bing is giving SwiftKey another chance to become popular.
It remains to be seen how widespread these apps will be, but the future certainly looks promising for Microsoft’s latest venture.
