Microsoft SwiftKey News & Update: Predictive Technology Getting Better?

Microsoft SwiftKey shared the news about updating its neural network technology on its keyboards, which can be integrated into the smart phone.

In a blog post, the SwiftKey team said that they "rebuilt" the "language engine from the ground up."

What does this mean?

"This gives you more accurate and useful next-word predictions, saving you time and (hopefully) adding a little fun to your typing," the blog post said. "With this update SwiftKey is now able to meaningfully capture the relationship and similarity between words."

The use of Neural Alpha network technology on SwiftKey's keyboards was already announced in October last year. This was supposed to be a prototype of SwiftKey Greenhouse.

According to Swiftkey, the neural networks technology will first be rolled out in US English and UK English, although it promises to develop more languages in the future.

The news about Microsoft buying SwiftKey earlier this year took nobody by surprise. The terms of the deal was about $250 million according to some reports although there's no confirmation of the value of the acquisition.

What Microsoft is interested in is the predictive capability by SwiftKey's technology. The artificial intelligence aspect of the technology will bring the tech giant's foray into the Internet of Things to another level.

"SwiftKey's predictive technology aligns with Microsoft's investments and ambition to develop intelligent systems that can work more on the user's behalf and under their control," Microsoft Research exec Harry Shum said in a report by Fortune.

Watch out for more news and rumors in relation to Microsoft SwiftKey, which will be published here when they become available.