WhatsApp chats to get an AI upgrade: Writing help to fix grammar mistakes, change tone of text

Read Time:2 Minute, 20 Second

WhatsApp, the Meta-owned messenger, will soon get an AI helper inside your chats. This new feature, Writing Help, is designed to give you suggestions for how to phrase your messages, fix your grammar mistakes or even change the tone of the phrase before sending it across to someone else.

These new features are currently available on WhatsApp beta for testing on Android and are powered by Meta’s Private Processing technology. This technology sends you a message request through an encrypted and anonymous route, which cannot be linked back to the origin or the user.

WhatsApp also claims that it does not store data or related content, and AI suggestions will only appear if you choose to use the Writing Help. After the user types out the message they wish to send, with the feature enabled, the interface will display a small pen icon where the sticker icon once was, after they have typed a few words.

Story continues below this ad

Once the user clicks on the pen icon, WhatsApp will send the user’s message to Meta AI for a quick brush-up of the text. It will recommend three options to the user in different tones, such as professional, supportive, funny, or rephrased. The user will pick one and tweak it according to their choices. The recipient of the message will not know that an AI generated the message.

Writing Help is now in beta testing on Android (version 2.25.23.7 through the Google Play Beta program) with a limited number of beta users. Before being public, it might undergo modifications, and additional tones might be added later.

This function might be useful for folks who wish to appear more professional in business talks, add a little humour to friendly messages, or just get a little help when they are confused about what to say if it is made widely available. AI might make your WhatsApp discussions sound the way you want them to, but it won’t take over.

And lastly, WhatsApp emphasises that Writing Help is turned off by default and is optional. The app will never send AI-generated texts without your permission, and it only works on the particular message you choose, not your entire discussion.