Last year, WhatsApp integrated Meta AI, its AI-powered chatbot, directly into the messaging app. While the AI chatbot can answer questions, generate photos from text prompts, compared to the likes of ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude, it falls short when it comes to research and thinking.
As it turns out, Meta developers are now testing a new real-time voice mode for Meta AI within WhatsApp, which might work similarly to Gemini’s Live Mode. According to a recent report by WABetaInfo, the feature has been under development for a few months, but now it looks like the voice mode feature is rolling out for users on WhatsApp beta for Android 2.25.21.21.
Based on the screenshots shared by the publication, it looked like Meta AI’s voice mode will offer a bunch of customisation and personalisation options. As you can see in the image below, Meta AI’s voice mode comes with a new dedicated interface. When users tap on the Meta AI screen from the Chats tab, they will see an option to start a voice session by clicking on the waveform icon.
Here’s what WhatsApp’s new Meta AI voice mode interface looks like (Image Source: WABetaInfo)
The developers also seem to have an option that lets users automatically start a voice session with Meta AI from the Chats tab, but one will have to manually enable it. Also, the Chats tab is not the only place where you can launch voice chats with Meta AI. WhatsApp will also get an option to start voice chat with Meta AI from the Calls section. This will most likely start a voice call with the AI chatbot, allowing users to ask questions in a more natural way.
Users can also continue their conversation with Meta AI in the background by tapping on the collapse button. For example, you can switch to your browser and ask Meta AI about certain things that are unclear or confusing. And just like one would do on a phone call, you can mute the conversation anytime.
Coming to the new dedicated section, Meta AI will also show new default suggestions to help users initiate a conversation. These are basically curated prompts about various topics, similar to the ones which show up below the Meta AI bar. The new Meta AI voice mode is currently limited to select users on the latest beta version of WhatsApp, but it is still unclear if and when Meta plans to roll out the feature to everyone.
© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
