Things in the AI field were kind of quiet, until the AI arms race heated up.

And it began when OpenAI introduced ChatGPT. Microsoft, one of the main backers of OpenAI, is not stopping anytime soon because the company is refocusing its efforts on incorporating AI into all of their products.

After integrating ChatGPT to its Bing search engine and Edge web browser, and then to its mobile apps, and later to Windows 11's taskbar, and more, the company continues to make use of the hype and trend to bring the massive language model to the mainstream.

This time, Microsoft is putting the ChatGPT-powered chatbot to another Microsoft product, Swiftkey Beta.

Pedram Rezaei, Microsoft’s CTO of mobile and commerce, revealed on Twitter that the company has added a major AI functionality to SwiftKey Beta.

The move should significantly make the keyboard app a lot more powerful and useful, to become a service capable of outshining the rest of the leading Android keyboard apps out there.

Users having access to Microsoft SwiftKey Beta on Android can try the chatbot by tapping the Bing icon in the left corner of the app's toolbar.

Just like the chatbot on Bing, users can select different kind of responses they can expect from the AI.

First of, the SwiftKey Beta update introduces three tabs for "Search," "Tone," and "Chat."

The default tab is Bing Search, which was integrated into the keyboard app in 2018, which allows users to browse the web without having to open another app.

This feature was nothing big, given that Google first introduced the feature on its Gboard app.

But this time however, Microsoft is updating the app with significant firepower.

And this comes in the forms of the two remaining tabs.

The Tone tab, for example, allows users to type in any phrase or sentence in a text field right above the keys and rephrase them into various tones. All users need to do is tap the arrow button in the right corner, and the app will generate different styles of the sentence they created.

In this case, just like Bing AI where users can choose different kind of responses, in SwiftKey Beta, users can choose between four available tones, namely "Professional," "Casual," "Polite," and "Social post."

The, the Chat tab. is where Microsoft goes all out with the AI chatbot.

This tab allows users to see the Bing Chat service inside the SwiftKey app itself. Through this tab, users can see a similar landing screen to that on Bing, where they can set the conversation style before asking Bing Chat anything.

And because the chatbot has the same AI capabilities with ChatGPT, the SwiftKey Beta update allows users to ask Bing chat to write emails for them, or create itineraries for specific destinations.

While Bing Chat can help users compose the body of a message, it's worth noting that it can also analyze prewritten text for users' tone to suggest changes if users ever want to avoid coming across a certain way.

In short, the integration of Bing Chat with the SwiftKey keyboard allows users to easily access the chatbot for help whenever their keyboard is enabled.

In other words, being an addition to the keyboard app, the Bing Chat integration inside SwiftKey Beta has the ability to do the usual chat mode that offers access to the chatbot, and the ability to rewrite any text right within the keyboard.

At this time, Microsoft didn't say anything about Bing Chat for SwiftKey on iOS, because Microsoft discontinued support for the app on iOS in 2022.

However, the company revised the move and returned the app to the App Store.

But due to the more restricted ecosystem Apple has, Microsoft will be "investing heavily in the keyboard" to make the integration happen.

While the iOS version of SwiftKey hasn’t been updated regularly, Microsoft’s AI push should likely see this Bing integration appear on the SwiftKey iOS keyboard, only when the time's right.

Microsoft originally acquired SwiftKey in 2016, after the third-party keyboard soared in popularity on Android and iOS. It was considered amongst the most powerful Android keyboard app thanks to its tracing, autocorrect, theme support, and more.