Ever wanted to send your loved ones a heartfelt text, brimming with compassion and care, but couldn’t find the right words? WhatsApp’s new AI-powered writing suggestions feature — which is now reportedly available in beta — probably can’t replicate exactly what you were going for, but it’ll take a crack at it for you. Yay?
If the idea of outsourcing even the most human of tasks to an artificial intelligence doesn’t frighten you even a little, you’ll be glad to know the feature, dubbed ‘Private Writing Help Assistant’ has wormed its way onto the 25.22.10.74 iOS beta through the TestFlight program, a week after it hit the Android beta. There’s still no word when the feature will be made readily available.
Need a hand, buddy?
The feature is just the latest attempt by Meta to cram AI into every corner of every product under its umbrella. We’ve already seen the Facebook company recently add features like AI-generated summaries and AI-powered support into the app. This is just the next step along the path of AI dominance for the Meta-owned messenger.
Like those AI-generated summaries, you’ll need to keep the Private Processing system toggled on to use the writing tool, which supposedly allows WhatsApp to “securely and anonymously handle user requests without storing any message data. The system ensures that all suggestions are generated in real time and vanish after delivery, leaving no trace,” WABetaInfo writes.
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Keep the feature on, and users with access to the beta will notice a new pen icon appear (replacing the sticker icon) after typing a short phrase. Click it, and Meta will serve up a few suggestions to choose from to match your tone, though users can make specific requests to improve their structure, tone, or clarity.
After reviewing the suggestions based on your chosen tone — including professional, supportive, and funny — users can choose to keep what Meta has concocted, before editing or simply sending it out as is. Doing so will notify the receiver that some writing assistance is involved, which may deter some from using it in the first place.
“I love you, babe,” — this message was generated by WhatsApp’s Private Writing Assistant!
