WhatsApp is reportedly working on a new artificial intelligence (AI) feature. The new feature will reportedly allow users to have hands-free verbal conversations with Meta AI, the AI chatbot integrated into the app. Earlier, a report had claimed that WhatsApp was working on letting users send voice notes to Meta AI, which would allow for one-way verbal communication, but the new information now claims that the AI chatbot will also respond verbally. The voice mode feature could also come with different voice options to choose from, though the differences between them are not known.
According to a after According to WhatsApp feature tracker WABetaInfo, the voice mode feature for Meta AI was spotted in WhatsApp beta for Android version 2.24.17.16. A separate after also found the same feature in WhatsApp beta for iOS version 24.16.10.70.
Meta AI voice mode function
Photo credit: WABetaInfo
The feature is currently not visible in the beta version of the app, likely because the company is still working on the feature. As a result, those who have enrolled in the Google Play Beta program will not be able to test the Meta AI speech mode.
According to the screenshots shared by the feature tracker, a new voice icon represented by an audio waveform can be seen next to the text field in the Meta AI chat. Tapping on it appears to open a bottom page with Meta AI written on it. In the middle, a circular shape made by multiple bubbles can be seen. At the bottom, the text “Hi, how can I help” can be seen with an expanded audio waveform icon indicating that the AI is listening.
Furthermore, more screenshots reveal that the Meta AI voice mode could have up to 10 different voices to choose from. It’s unclear what the differences between the voices would be, but they could have different accents, energy levels, or tonalities. It’s unlikely that the voices would support multiple languages.
Additionally, there is also an option to enable captions and transcripts using text-to-speech. This feature will likely document the entire verbal conversation and transcribe it as text so the user can refer to it later. It is unknown when this feature will be made available to the public.
