We already knew that Meta was planning to infuse more of its AI features into its apps—including WhatsApp. Well, it looks like Meta is finally starting to infuse more AI features into WhatsApp, and it’s starting with a pretty useless one.
Obviously, opinions on AI in WhatsApp have been very mixed since the company announced its plans. Some of our own have even questioned the move, especially since WhatsApp is meant to be end-to-end encrypted. But that doesn’t seem to have stopped Meta one bit, as Zuckerberg continues to push his idea of useful AI features down the collective throats of anyone using Meta’s apps.
According to reports, the latest beta for WhatsApp has officially brought more AI features into the messaging app. If you were expecting something overly useful, though, you might be disappointed, as it seems the “AI-powered” feature will only let you generate images for your chats—and only for group chats at that.
It’s a bit of a weird limitation, to be sure, and will likely be extended to other chats and even profile pictures before it’s all said and done. And while we might not be the biggest fan of Meta baking AI features into WhatsApp, others like ChatGPT have even started using WhatsApp as a way to interact with AI chatbots—and it might even be the best way to interact with ChatGPT.
I, personally, don’t find much use in image generation for profile icons and group chat icons. So, seeing a feature like this make the jump to WhatsApp isn’t exactly a huge deal. As my colleague Chris pointed out in the piece I linked at the start of this article, the influx of AI into an end-to-end encrypted messaging app certainly comes with some worrying possibilities.
Meta has yet to say whether it plans to extend the use of image generation beyond just group icons or if it will stop there for now, with no plans to bring it to other icons like profile pictures or regular group chat icons. However, it is likely that it will eventually be available for all these options at some point down the line, as it doesn’t make much sense to limit it to only group chats.
Considering Meta is already working to give AI bots prime access to WhatsApp users, it’s probably only a matter of time before we see more useless AI features like this making an appearance in the messaging app. Maybe it’s finally time to jump ship to another encrypted messaging app.
