WhatsApp has announced Writing Help, a new feature coming to English-speaking users in the US and "several other countries," with more planned for the future. As you might expect, this is an LLM-focused feature that helps you rephrase or change the tone of your messages. After typing a message, you tap a pencil icon to get AI-generated suggestions in different styles, like professional or funny.
Here"s the pitch:
Sometimes you know what you want to say, but just need a little help with how to say it.
That’s why today we’re introducing Writing Help.You can review the suggestions from AI in various styles such as professional, funny, or supportive that you can select or continue editing to deliver that perfect message.
WhatsApp promises that this feature does not compromise on your privacy, as it is built on Private Processing technology developed by Meta. This system is designed to power AI features, like message summarization, without the company reading the contents of your messages.
Requests from your device get end-to-end encrypted and routed through a third-party relay using a protocol called Oblivious HTTP (OHTTP), which obscures your IP address. The actual processing happens inside a secure, confidential virtual machine that prevents Meta itself from accessing the data. Once the AI generates its response, the message data is discarded.
Still not convinced about the privacy aspect? WhatsApp says that using features powered by Private Processing is optional, so writing Help is turned off by default.
In case you missed it, ads are coming to WhatsApp. Yes, you read that right. The messaging app has somehow managed to stay ad-free since Meta bought it for a staggering $19 billion back in 2014, but that is about to change.
The good news for some is that the ads will appear between Status updates, not your private chats. In addition to the ads, Meta is letting people pay to promote their channel to a wider audience.