Meta announced significant AI updates for its messaging platforms at Meta Connect 2024, introducing voice and photo interactions with Meta AI on WhatsApp, Messenger, Facebook, and Instagram Direct Messages.
Users can now engage in real-time voice conversations with Meta AI across these platforms. By activating a waveform button, users can verbally ask questions and receive spoken responses. Meta plans to offer various AI voice options, including celebrity voices such as Awkwafina, Dame Judi Dench, John Cena, Keegan Michael Key, and Kristen Bell as the feature rolls out.
The new voice capability allows users to get answers, explanations, or even jokes from Meta AI through audio interactions. This feature aims to make AI assistance more accessible and interactive.
Photo-based AI interactions have also been implemented on WhatsApp. Users can send images to Meta AI for analysis and information retrieval. Examples include translating foreign language menus or obtaining care instructions for plants based on their photos.
For WhatsApp Business app users, Meta is expanding its AI services to improve customer service speed. The company plans to start with thousands of businesses and broaden these services over the next year.
These updates are designed to enhance user experience across Meta’s platforms, facilitating idea exploration, chat improvement, and new use cases. Meta reports positive feedback from users since the initial introduction of AI features on WhatsApp a year ago.
The company emphasises ongoing advancements in AI technology and expresses its commitment to developing new features for global users. Meta encourages user feedback and invites users to share their experiences with Meta AI on Threads.
These developments reflect Meta’s strategy to integrate AI across its ecosystem, potentially impacting user engagement and business operations. The introduction of voice and image-based AI interactions represents a significant step in making AI more interactive within messaging apps.
As AI technology evolves, these updates may influence how users interact with messaging platforms and how businesses leverage AI for customer service. The long-term implications of these features on user privacy, data usage, and the messaging landscape remain to be seen.
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