The rage over generative AI is far from over. Therefore, it is not surprising that WhatsApp has started testing a feature that most of its users will surely like: create stickers with artificial intelligence from text. The new feature is already being tested in the beta of the Android messaging app.
Details about this option are still scarce. Nevertheless, WABetaInfo mentions that the AI-based tool will be incorporated into the stickers tab that already exists in WhatsApp. In addition to viewing frequently used, favorited, and downloaded from different collections, users will be able to generate them from a new button “Create”.
In a screenshot you can see that when you touch it, a new section called “Create stickers with AI”. The interface is very simple, since it only includes a text box where the user must write the prompt for the generative AI to take care of the rest. An example with description is included in the image “Laughing Cat on a Skateboard”with the corresponding result.
That stickers are today the most popular —and funny— method of reacting to a conversation on WhatsApp is not new. There are increasingly simple tools to create them, and it is even possible to do it without leaving the app. However, the possibility of generating them using artificial intelligence is presented as a more than attractive option to provide the messaging service with a differentiating component regarding the competition.
AI-generated stickers come to WhatsApp
It remains to be seen how the tool responds once it is made available to the general public. What is clear is that it can be a fun option For those who want to experiment and see what results they get. For now, the option to create WhatsApp stickers using generative AI is limited to a number of testers very small. Although WABetaInfo claims it will start reaching more users in the coming weeks; at least on Android.
Once Meta makes this new feature official, we will surely know more technical details about it. It is not yet known what artificial intelligence model is used to promote the creation of WhatsApp stickers, although those from Menlo Park do not lack resources to do it with their own tools.
The company recently introduced LLaMA 2, a new open source AI to compete with OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Google’s PaLM 2. But that is not all. Those of Mark Zuckerberg also launched AudioCraft, an artificial intelligence capable of creating music and sound effects from text.
The CEO of Meta himself stated some time ago that his intention was to be leaders in generative AI, and that they would take advantage of their various platforms to achieve this. Use this type of technology to create WhatsApp stickers may seem minorbut considering the global popularity of the messaging app, the approach is not far-fetched.