Image: © Tobias Arhelger/Stock.adobe.com
Pedram Rezaei, a Microsoft executive, tweeted yesterday to say the ‘major AI functionality’ is now slowly rolling out.
Microsoft is rolling out a Bing AI chat feature for Android phones that use the SwiftKey keyboard.
Now available in the latest beta release, the Bing AI functionality will allow users of SwiftKey on Android to tap into the power of artificial intelligence while performing tasks such as typing, searching the web or even for a chat with the generative AI-infused search engine.
The move was first revealed by Pedram Rezaei, chief technology officer for Microsoft’s mobile and commerce division, in a tweet posted yesterday (6 April).
“Did we just add major AI functionality to SwiftKey?” he wrote, referring to the Bing AI integration. “Slowly rolling out. Get yourself onto the beta channel to taste the future.”
And while the beta is available for all Android users, there has been no confirmation from Microsoft about an iOS version of the app – despite some asking Rezaei the same in response to his tweet.
Bing has received a big boost in recent months, since the tech giant incorporated OpenAI’s technology into the search engine to give conversational-style answers to user questions that has become typical of generative AI such as ChatGPT.
Last month, Microsoft revealed that Bing crossed the 100m daily active user milestone, with roughly a third of these being new users.
Microsoft has also revealed plans to place ads directly into its Bing chatbot, a move expected to bring more value to publishers on the search engine. A recent tweet by Glean founding engineer Debarghya Das suggests that Microsoft has already begun experimenting with ads in the chatbot.
“AI will fundamentally change every software category, starting with the largest category of all – search,” Microsoft chair and CEO Satya Nadella said last month, a week after launching a major update for Windows 11 that brought a new typable search box directly into the taskbar.
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