Microsoft continues to put AI everywhere! Including in its Swiftey mobile keyboard, which takes advantage of Bing Chat to search the Web but also to change the turn of sentences in messages!

Microsoft continues to put AI everywhere Including in its Swiftey

Microsoft continues to put AI everywhere! Including in its Swiftey mobile keyboard, which takes advantage of Bing Chat to search the Web but also to change the turn of sentences in messages!

In its desire to compete with Google, Microsoft does not stop and adds artificial intelligence to all its products and services! Indeed, the Redmond firm has integrated GPT-4 – the new version of the language model that powers ChatGPT – as well as an image-generating AI into its Bing search engine and Edge browser (see our article), and also unveiled the addition of an assistant called Copilot to its Microsoft 365 suite. It does not intend to stop there since it has just announced that the latter would also be present in OneNote. “As a note-taking partner, Copilot uses your prompts to draft outlines, generate ideas, create lists, organize information, and more. Copilot can transform existing text by summarizing, rewriting, formatting, and adding visual context “, she explains in a blog post. Microsoft is accelerating the integration of its generative AI into its products, while Google is preparing to do the same.

With its new chatbot, Microsoft has managed to attract the attention of users, whether on PC, on an Android smartphone or on iPhone. Indeed, downloads of the Bing application had multiplied by ten in the world at the beginning of February, following the presentation of Microsoft, even though its AI was available only by invitation in the United States. This therefore confirmed Microsoft in its strategy to integrate its new technology into absolutely all of its services, including its alternative SwiftKey mobile keyboard, on which the firm is currently testing the integration of Bing Chat on the Android version!

SwiftKey: an AI to write replies to messages

Most Android device users use Google’s Gboard keyboard, which is usually installed and configured by default. Still, they have the option of replacing it with alternatives, including Microsoft’s SwiftKey keyboard — it’s also available on iOS. To motivate them to switch to its keyboard, the Redmond company is counting on the success of Bing Chat and has started to integrate AI into the beta version of SwiftKey on Android, as many Internet users have reported on social networks. having been able to test the new tool – a Microsoft official has also confirmed the existence of this test on Twitter. To be able to take advantage of it, you must install the latest beta version of the application from the Play Store, then connect to your Microsoft account. However, as the deployment is done gradually, it is possible that we will have to wait a little longer before being able to take advantage of it. As for the version for iOS, nothing has been communicated for the moment.

The new AI-powered version of SwiftKey has a Bing button at the top left of the banner grouping all the keyboard tools, which allows you to launch a query in the search engine at any time but also – and above all – to contact Bing Chat directly to ask for help in rewriting a text. Apparently, the AI ​​can suggest different turns of phrase thanks to the Tone button which allows you to choose a speaking style (Professional, Casual, Polite or Familiar).

Microsoft is obviously relying on its AI to relaunch SwiftKey, especially on Apple’s mobile devices. Indeed, the Redmond firm had briefly removed the mobile keyboard on iOS last year, before quickly reintegrating it into the App Store. At the time, Pedram Rezae, one of the company’s officials, said that Microsoft would “invest heavily in the keyboard” – we now understand better what he was talking about! If, for the moment, the company is testing its tool on Android, there is no doubt that devices running iOS will soon be entitled to it.

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