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WhatsApp rolls out AI-generated message summaries with privacy-first approach
The new tool, called AI Message Summaries, uses Meta’s in-house AI capabilities to generate brief overviews of conversations, particularly for lengthy group chats.
The new tool, called AI Message Summaries, uses Meta’s in-house AI capabilities to generate brief overviews of conversations, particularly for lengthy group chats.
Meta has begun rolling out a new artificial intelligence-powered feature on WhatsApp designed to help users quickly catch up on unread messages. The new tool, called AI Message Summaries, uses Meta’s in-house AI capabilities to generate brief overviews of conversations, particularly for lengthy group chats, allowing users to stay informed without having to scroll through every message.
What Is the Message Summaries Feature? According to a blog post from WhatsApp, the feature offers optional, privacy-focused message summaries generated locally on a user’s device. Meta emphasized that the feature uses a proprietary privacy-preserving framework known as “Private Processing”, which ensures that neither Meta nor WhatsApp can see the original messages or the generated summaries.
“This privacy-first approach ensures encryption and user control remain intact,” the company stated. “Message Summaries uses Private Processing technology, which allows Meta AI to generate a response without Meta or WhatsApp ever seeing your messages or the private summaries.”
Designed to assist users with hectic chat environments, especially in group conversations, the summaries aim to save time while maintaining WhatsApp’s core promise of end-to-end encryption. Users will see a small icon in eligible chats, indicating when a summary is available. Since summaries are processed entirely on the device, message content never leaves the phone.
Importantly, the feature is turned off by default. Users will need to manually enable message summaries through the Advanced Chat Privacy settings. From there, they can control which chats are allowed to use AI features. There’s no alert to other participants when someone uses the summary tool, maintaining discretion.
Meta has framed this launch as part of its larger AI rollout strategy, following the integration of its Meta AI assistant into WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger earlier this year.
Currently, the AI Message Summaries feature is available only in the United States and supports English-language chats. Meta said it plans to expand the feature to more regions and additional languages in the coming months, though a specific timeline has not been shared.
The new tool represents one of the first major AI-driven user interface enhancements for WhatsApp since Meta began integrating generative AI across its platforms in April. It builds on the company’s vision of using on-device intelligence to deliver smart, secure tools without compromising user privacy.
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