Meta’s tremendous eager to turn out to be a key participant within the generative AI race, which is why it’s investing billions upon billions into AI {hardware} and growth, and jamming its new AI options into all of its apps.

Which incorporates WhatsApp, the most well-liked messaging app on the planet, which can be notoriously tough so as to add options into, as a result of most WhatsApp are solely all for sending messages to their pals, and nothing else.

However Meta’s going to provide it a shot both approach, with the corporate now creating a brand new AI profile picture generator for WhatsApp profiles.

As you’ll be able to see on this screenshot, posted by WABetaInfo, within the newest model of WhatsApp, there’s new code regarding an as but unreleased “Create AI Profile Image” choice on your WhatsApp presence.

Which, because it sounds, would allow you to generate your individual AI photograph, which you’ll already do by way of varied third occasion instruments, and you can too, at the least theoretically, create by way of Meta’s personal AI instruments.

Although including your individual picture into the Meta AI chat stream isn’t easy.

As an experiment, I attempted a couple of other ways to do that, first by asking it to create an alternate model of my profile picture (it returned an image of a younger Asian man), then to create a picture of “Andrew Hutchinson” (it returned a canine chasing a Frisbee), then the “human” Andrew Hutchinson (it gave me this picture of a Victorian period gentleman sitting in his research).

It then knowledgeable me that it could’t truly entry any images, so I might solely do that by describing by profile picture. Which, I assume, might work, with a good bit of trial and error, kind of like making a police sketch of your self by way of AI.

However once more, it’s potential, whereas Meta’s additionally experimenting with AI profile picture technology particularly on Fb and IG.

Perhaps they’ll all get launched directly, with the AI profile picture choice obtainable in all of Meta’s apps, giving billions of individuals the prospect to create hyperreal, barely off-putting depictions of themselves.

Would that be a superb factor? In all probability not, however attention-grabbing nonetheless. Doubtlessly.

The characteristic would add to WhatsApp’s present AI parts, together with stickers you can create from textual content prompts, and its Meta AI chatbot, which Meta believes will finally turn out to be common, regardless of adverse preliminary suggestions.

And whereas most of those instruments are considerably attention-grabbing, as famous, most are additionally, at this stage at the least, a novelty, that’s unlikely to see ongoing use.

However AI is the factor of the second, and all the massive tech gamers are satisfied that not solely will they turn out to be transformative instruments, but in addition, that they should incorporate them to maintain up.

And whereas there are some use instances for generative AI which might be important, I’m nonetheless undecided that social and messaging apps want them.

Looks like we’re going to search out out both approach.