There is a moment that can be especially annoying when opening WhatsApp: when we realize that a group has ‘uncontrolled’ and we have dozens of unrepted messages. While we were in a meeting, traveling or simply busy with something else, our contacts have made plans, they have changed their minds, they have argued and have even reached conclusions. Everything is there, in a mess of messages. And now, we have to dig between them to understand what happened.
That task may be about to be easier. WhatsApp has just released a function that promises to change the way we read the chats. It is called “Message Summaries” and uses the goal technology AI to summarize, privately and automatically, pending messages. It is integrated into the messaging application.
What exactly is this function? The idea behind the sets of messages is simple: when you enter a chat with unreposed messages, you can ask goal to summarize them by clicking on the corresponding icon. Nothing to go one by one. As we can see in the video, the AI analyzes them and gives you a quick view of what has happened, as if someone made you an executive summary. A way to update without having to review the entire conversation.
The goal itself raises it with a recognizable example: you arrive from a flight without wifi, you enter WhatsApp and you find too many messages to read. The summary helps you know what happened at that time, without having to read all the chats. The best thing is that the whole process is done privately, according to the company, without even WhatsApp or goal can access the content.
With the focus on privacy. The key to this new function is in which Meta has baptized as “Private Processing.” It is a system that allows the messages to be processed directly from the cloud, but without neither goal nor WhatsApp can see what is in them. It is a way of using artificial intelligence without compromising user privacy, according to their own words.
This system works with a confidential execution technology, based on safe environments (TEE), which allow AI to generate answers without keeping messages or sharing them with anyone. In addition, the summary is visible only for those who request it: the rest of the chat people will not know that this function has been used.
According to WhatsApp, this function is not activated by default. Its use is voluntary and depends on each user. For those who decide to prove it, there is the option to configure which chats can be used with functions of ia like this, through the advanced privacy section. It is a mechanism that, on paper, allows limiting the scope of AI within the application.
Available for now alone in the United States. The summaries function is beginning to deploy in the United States and, for the moment, only in English. From WhatsApp they ensure that its intention is to take it to other languages and countries throughout the year, although for now there are no concrete dates for its arrival in Europe.
Images | WhatsApp
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