WhatsApp will start summarizing messages using AI

Meta is adding a new feature to WhatsApp called Message Summaries, which uses artificial intelligence to summarize unread messages in a few bullet points. This feature is built on the Private Processing technology, which Meta presented at the Llamacon conference in April, and is said to allow AI to process content in WhatsApp without sending data to the company itself.

Once the feature appears in your app, you will need to tap the banner over unread messages with the label Summarize privately to get a brief summary from Meta AI. The Message Summaries feature will be rolled out among WhatsApp users in the US who communicate in English. Meta says it plans to expand it to other languages and countries later this year.

The company positions this feature as a simpler way not to miss important information if you haven't opened the app for a long time or are part of a large number of active chats. Although AI does not always handle such tasks accurately — Apple's problems with a similar notification feature were very recent — the tool can be useful for those involved in particularly crowded conversations.

The real novelty of the feature, according to Meta, is that it is implemented without violating the privacy of WhatsApp conversations. The company's blog and technical document explain in detail how Private Processing works. At first glance, it resembles Apple's Private Cloud Compute, where resource-intensive AI features are processed without access to user data. Thanks to end-to-end encryption and a secure cloud environment, WhatsApp messages can be processed without access to data during the process and without storing them after completion. Summaries will not be generated without a request, and the feature is disabled by default. Meta also states that users can exclude individual chats from AI processing through advanced privacy settings.

Source: engadget.com