- WhatsApp is rolling out an AI-powered text composing feature called Writing Help.
- The feature, available in English across the US and a few other countries, is meant to ease composing of responses without any overheads.
- WhatsApp mentions the AI doesn't 'read' your messages thanks to the Private Processing technology under the hood.
The next time you receive a text on WhatsApp, believe me, there’s an AI-powered Writing Help feature available on the app that lets you, as the name implies, compose messages using AI. It makes your job easier as you no longer have to respond under pressure but rather let the AI handle it in a supportive, funny, or professional manner — the three available styles of writing on-board. Let’s check out the latest Writing Help feature coming to WhatsApp all across the globe.
Craft your messages in three different styles on WhatsApp using “Writing Help”
Imagine you get a text from your boss and don’t know how to respond or how to respond well, you go to ChatGPT or Gemini, right? Well, WhatsApp doesn’t want you to wander around and thus, rolls out Writing Help, an AI-powered feature that lets you respond to texts using messages composed by the AI. [Additionally, this is another AI-powered feature in the works.]
The feature works on both one-on-one and group chat. All you have to do is click on the text area where you would usually start typing, click on emoji, proceed to a new feature denoted by a pencil icon, and voila, Meta AI’s Writing Help to the rescue. The feature, built on Private Processing technology, lets users generate responses to messages (or rewrite them based on suggestions) powered by Meta AI, all while keeping your messages secured and unreadable to WhatsApp or Meta.
The instant messaging app says they have stress-tested Private Processing and validated it through peers in the security community, making it secure against reading your messages — something generative AI chatbots are notorious for. It is also unclear whether your messages will be used to train AI, so yeah, a bit of caution is always recommended.
In any case, the Writing Help feature on WhatsApp is optional and not a default. You can trust and enable it, or you can simply choose not to use it, similar to how people have been ditching Meta AI — I guess so.
Availability and rollout plans
The feature is currently rolling out across WhatsApp users in English, starting with the United States and a few other countries. WhatsApp will be adding more languages and countries later this year, possibly based on the performance and feedback. When I checked from my device in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the feature is nowhere to be seen, so yes, we will have to wait to get our hands on the same.
So now, you can enjoy an AI-assisted conversation with your near or dear ones or even to your boss without worrying about any inappropriate use of languages. Of course, do check the responses before sending as even with the best of tech there is, it is still an AI.
