WhatsApp’s Writing Helper is Here, But Does it Understand Zimbabwean Chat?

Remember a while back when WhatsApp started rolling out those AI chat summaries? You know, the feature that promised to summarise messages, saving you from the boredom of scrolling through hundreds of messages about a forgotten braai ingredient or a last-minute funeral arrangement?

We covered it, wondering if it’s actually useful for the average Zimbabwean WhatsApp warrior, especially with the popularity of voice notes and the privacy concerns surrounding anything “AI” from Meta.

Well, Meta is going full speed ahead in this direction. This time, they’re introducing “Writing Help”, an AI feature designed to refine the tone of your messages.

Professional, funny, supportive, or urgent, WhatsApp’s new AI wants to be your personal copy editor, making sure your “ndichasvika late” doesn’t sound too casual when texting your boss, or your breakup message has just the right amount of “it’s not you, it’s me” without actually saying it.

So, what is this “Writing Help” exactly?

Basically, you type your message, and then this AI will offer you different stylistic options. Want your simple instruction to sound more formal? “Writing Help” will rephrase it. Need to introduce some humour to a dry, boring update? It’ll try its hand at stand-up.

WhatsApp points to “Private Processing” as its shield, claiming neither Meta nor WhatsApp can read your messages or the AI’s suggestions. They’ve even got the auditors on board to verify this.

Currently, it’s rolling out in English in the US and ‘other countries,’ with more languages and territories promised later this year. That should sound familiar because that’s exactly how the AI chat summaries were introduced.

Another AI Feature From Meta, But For Whom?

This brings us back to the same questions we raised with the chat summaries.

1. Availability in Zimbabwe: Just like with the summaries, the big question for us here is: Will we even get it? Meta prioritises larger, more lucrative markets for these rollouts. By the time it reaches our shores, if it ever does, will anyone even care?
2. Private Processing: WhatsApp, owned by Meta, has a terrible past with privacy. While they say that “Private Processing” means no snooping, having auditors confirm it’s true and all, we will always be sceptical. Are we truly expected to believe that an AI operating on Meta’s infrastructure, no matter how “private” the processing, isn’t somehow contributing to a larger data-gathering project?
3. Does anyone actually need this? Let’s be honest. Zimbabwean WhatsApp usage is a unique beast. We can say a lot with one-word or one-sentence messages, we are kings of the voice note, and often, our tone is not easy to capture. Do we genuinely need an AI to tell us how to say “I’m running late” more professionally? That said, we do use WhatsApp for formal communication, so I am just giving WhatsApp a hard time, we do need this.
4. The “AI Summaries” Connection: The fact that both features are AI-driven and come from Meta isn’t a coincidence. This is a clear strategy. Meta wants to put AI into every aspect of your WhatsApp experience. From summarising your chats to writing them, you can see where this is going.

Will Probably Occassionally Use It

Writing Help sounds interesting on paper, especially for those using it for business, but we have seen similar options from other AI companies and we’ve seen it built into phones like the Galaxies or iPhones. It hasn’t really been a killer feature, for the most part.

The fact that we mix English with local languages means these kinds of features will never be truly useful in Zimbabwe, especially for casual conversations. Which is alright with me because our casual conversations should not have any AI invloved.

What are your thoughts? Do you need an AI to help you write your WhatsApp messages?