Too many messages to read? WhatsApp launches AI-enabled summary feature for unread chats. Here's how it works

Meta-owned direct messaging platform WhatsApp has introduced a feature that uses AI to summarise personal chats. The Meta AI feature of WhatsApp now enables the generation of a bulleted summary of chats.

Describing the latest feature, WhatsApp in a blogpost stated, “a new option that uses Meta AI to privately and quickly summarise unread messages in a chat, so you can get an idea of what is happening, before reading the details in your unread messages.”

How will this feature work?

Once this feature is rolled out, users will see an option titled ‘summarise privately’ over the unread messages tab. After clicking the tab, Meta AI will convert the unread chat into a bulleted summary.

The messages will be summarised using Private Processing technology, an optional feature that allows users to submit requests to a confidential and secure environment where AI can process messages without anyone else accessing them.

According to the blog post, Meta AI can produce a summary for personal chat of users without Meta or WhatsApp viewing the messages or private summaries. Additionally, nobody else can see the summarised messages.

Users must note that the AI message summaries feature is optional and turned off by default. WhatsApp’s “Advanced Privacy" feature blocks users from using AI features within group chats.

Who can access the feature currently?

The latest feature is being introduced in the US in English, with plans to expand to other countries and languages by the end of this year.

However, there is no clarity on whether the AI message summary would guarantee accuracy. We still do not know if WhatsApp’s AI message summaries will struggle with accuracy.

Over the last one year, Meta has introduced several AI-enabled features on WhatsApp, including a method to ask Meta AI questions directly in a chat, along with a feature that produces images in real time.

The app’s Private Processing is supposed to conceal your interactions with its AI model by creating a “secure cloud environment,” preventing Meta or WhatsApp from seeing your summaries. Other people in the group chat will not be able to see the message summaries, either.