Microsoft pushes its Bing AI chatbot to more parts of its software business.

Today’s announcements include accessing the SwiftKey keyboard app’s chatbot (which was previously only accessible on Android beta, but is now generally available for iOS); more access to the bot in group Skype chats (the Skype integration was launched in February preview, but group chats are now only required one member with access with Bing); and a new integration to Microsoft’s little known Start app. This is a personalized news feed, search engine, weather app combination of news app/search engine /weather app.

SwiftKey is the most intriguing integration. The bot offers three functions: Chat, Search, and Tone. These first two functions are obvious: SwiftKey allows you to search the internet and can chat with Bing for any questions. The third function is most interesting. It makes Bing your editor and allows the bot to reword any text you have written to suit a desired tone. SwiftKey’s keyboard shows Bing as an icon.

Microsoft says, “Whether your struggle to be formal with your work emails or you’re learning new languages and need help with the nuances in word choice, then the Tone feature has you covered with tones to make you words more professional, casual, polite or concise enough to use for a social media post.” This is similar to the way Microsoft sees its Copilot AI (built upon the same technological foundations as Bing) working in Office docs.

It’s also the first SwiftKey iOS update in years, after Microsoft had planned to kill SwiftKey. The company believes that SwiftKey has a second chance to gain popularity by using Bing.

It is not a new concept to integrate keyboard and AI. ParagraphAI, Smart Typer and Typly offer similar functionality. It’s part a growing trend where AI is used as an intermediary in communication. Although it is not yet clear how popular these apps are (in my experience AI-assisted Editing is difficult to navigate on a small screen phone), Microsoft sees them as another opportunity to enter our technological lives and take over a place currently held by Apple and Google.