WhatsApp unveils AI-powered tools to enhance user experience and combat privacy concerns

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As allegations of leaking private information, including that of Indians, grow stronger, WhatsApp is turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to regain its popularity. New features are set to be introduced for this purpose.

Although globally launched four months ago, these features did not initially reach Indian customers. Cybersecurity firms have uncovered that the US company WhatsApp has been leaking information from the phones of hundreds of thousands of Indians to its parent company, Meta.

The first AI service aims to generate matching stickers based on typed contexts. For instance, typing "child playing cricket on the field" would yield an appropriate image, shareable in chats. This functionality is enabled through AI tools like Midjourney. Additionally, a chatbot capable of answering questions like a human will be implemented. WhatsApp pledges to refrain from redirecting users to Google for search queries while sending official messages. The app will also offer remittance and purchase services for foreigners, facilitated through UPI. Furthermore, users will be able to tag contacts in their status updates, similar to Instagram.

However, there are concerns that WhatsApp's planned service to create AI-generated videos from acquaintances' photos could be misused. Presently, stickers can be created using individuals' photos, but cyber experts warn that the video feature could potentially be exploited to create fake videos of women and children. There are also indications that a notification sound will accompany status updates on WhatsApp, akin to Facebook's notification system.

India boasts the largest number of WhatsApp users, totaling 53.58 crore, out of a global user base of 303 crore.