Microsoft last year said it would be ending support for SwiftKey on iPhone, then only weeks later it backtracked and asked users to "stay tuned" for the arrival of new features. The company has now lived up to its promise with a fresh update that, perhaps unsurprisingly, integrates its ubiquitous Bing AI chatbot into the predictive keyboard app.
There are three components to SwiftKey's new Bing integration: Search, Chat, and Tone. As the names of the first two functions suggest, users can now search the web without leaving the app and chat with Bing to ask additional queries and questions. Microsoft says the features can be used when you're talking to a friend and want to look something up mid-conversation, for example.
The third function, Tone, is more clever. It's designed to make it easier for users to communicate more effectively by allowing Bing to act as editor and reword text to fit a desired tone.
As Microsoft describes it, "Whether you struggle to be formal in your work emails, or you're learning a new language and want help with the nuances of word choice, the Tone feature has got you covered, with tones to make your words sound more professional, casual, polite, or concise enough for a social post."
After updating SwiftKey, users will see a Bing icon above the keyboard, and tapping it brings up the three new features. Anyone can use the Search function, but accessing Tone and Chat requires users to sign into their Microsoft Account, which needs to have been approved to access the new Bing preview.
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Born too late to explore the Earth, born too early to explore the stars, born just in time to have a keyboard powered by generative AI. What a time to be alive. :cool:
Soon all humans will talk to each other in the exact same style and choice of word as an automated telephone customer service. Then later they can be simplified to use api and protobuff messages. Eventually we don’t need to communicate to each other with words or voice but simply electronic signal via common api wirelessly. How great! /s
I can totally see words no longer are authentic (like photo today). Everything you see electronically have been enhanced or augmented. Words won’t hold up in court anymore because you can say those were edited by a computer.
And someone who used the tone feature sending a message to friends and family members who will no longer understand the message because those people themselves don’t talk like that. (Think immigrants.) what a brave new world…
It's actually working better than ever. Unfortunately Apple doesn't support swipe/prediction in my language and SwiftKey does. It can also do 2 languages at the same time. The bing thing is a nice addition.
