WhatsApp has launched a new AI-driven feature called “Writing Help”, designed to assist users in rephrasing and adjusting the tone of their messages. This tool offers suggestions in various styles, including professional, funny, supportive, and rephrased, to help users communicate more effectively. The feature is powered by Meta’s Private Processing technology, ensuring that users’ messages remain private even when utilizing AI-generated responses.
To access Writing Help, users can tap the new pencil icon that appears when drafting a message in the app. Once activated, the AI provides alternative phrasings and tone adjustments without Meta or WhatsApp accessing the original message or the suggested rewrites. This approach maintains end-to-end encryption and user privacy. The feature is currently available to a limited number of users and is expected to roll out more broadly in the coming weeks. WhatsApp emphasizes that Writing Help is an optional tool, disabled by default, and can be manually enabled in the app’s settings. This ensures that users have control over their messaging experience and can choose whether to utilize AI assistance.
With WhatsApp being a platform that inherently limits privacy due to often requiring a phone number to use, this feature at least provides security from risks outside of the app – namely, sensitive information being leaked when a person tries to refine their message. This could set a precedent for similar technology on other social platforms, especially ones that are often used for personal purposes just as often as for typical social media reasons.
