WhatsApp Is Working On New Personalized AI Avatar Feature - 1

Photo by Mariia Shalabaieva on Unsplash

WhatsApp Is Working On New Personalized AI Avatar Feature

  • Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
  • Fact-Checked by Justyn Newman Former Lead Cybersecurity Editor

WhatsApp has been working on a new generative AI feature that allows users to create images based on their appearance. The new beta feature was discovered by WABetaInfo last week.

The recent update 2.24.14.7 has been available for selected Android users through the Google Play Beta Program. “What’s new in this update? WhatsApp is working on an optional feature to allow users to generate images of themselves using Meta AI, and it will be available in a future update!” said the update message according to WABetaInfo.

The new feature is under development and not yet available for beta testers. Only a few users got access, but WABetaInfo shared a few screenshots of what it looks like. Users get a pop-up message with the headline “Imagine yourself as anything” and the text “Take photos of yourself once, then imagine yourself in any setting from the forest to outer space.”

📝 WhatsApp beta for Android 2.24.14.13: what’s new? WhatsApp is working on an optional feature to allow users to generate images of themselves using Meta AI, and it will be available in a future update! https://t.co/3SE9pjOx6a pic.twitter.com/UtVhG0RROn — WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) July 1, 2024

To get AI image creations Whatsapp users must type “Imagine me” followed by a description and the feature, powered by Meta’s AI model Llama 3 , will provide AI images adapted to the prompt. As reported by WABetaInfo, this new feature requires users to opt in and they will be able to opt out and delete images whenever they want.

A few WhatsApp users have already shared their interests on social media and people have explored the possibilities and benefits it could bring. According to 9to5Google , “If you’re not able to get some professional-looking headshots for your WhatsApp profile picture, this may also be a good way to accomplish that.”

More details on how Meta will protect users’ information and images have not been provided. Most of Whatsapp’s new AI features are still in an early stage as the new Meta AI is also tested and is available only in certain countries.

Cloudflare Launches Free Tool to Prevent AI Bots from Scraping Website Data - 2

Cloudflare Launches Free Tool to Prevent AI Bots from Scraping Website Data

  • Written by Shipra Sanganeria Cybersecurity & Tech Writer
  • Fact-Checked by Justyn Newman Former Lead Cybersecurity Editor

Cloudflare released a new free tool last week that allows its clients to block AI companies’ web crawlers from scrapping their website content to train generative AI models. The one-click solution is now available to all customers, including those on free plans.

In a blog post introducing the tool, the company mentioned that its AI bot-combating tool, launched since September last year , has assisted customers in blocking identified crawlers that adhere to established protocols while scraping content. According to Cloudflare’s interna data, 85.2% of its customers opted to block these AI bots.

However, amid the growing demand for training data for generative AI models, Cloudflare identified instances where AI companies have circumvented these measures by using scrapers that appear to be legitimate visitors .

“Customers don’t want AI bots visiting their websites, and especially those that do so dishonestly,” the blog post stated. “We fear that some AI companies intent on circumventing rules to access content will persistently adapt to evade bot detection.”

To address this problem and provide a solution that helps clients block all AI crawlers, including those following proper scraping protocols, Cloudflare introduced this easy one-click feature.

Cloudflare states that this dynamic tool will update automatically as the company identifies new fingerprints of bots that widely scrape the web for training large language models.

In conclusion, Cloudflare emphasized that as AI technology continues to evolve, some companies may employ obfuscation techniques to evade bot-detection measures. Nevertheless, with its new mechanisms, the company aims to offer effective tools for managing AI bot access. It believes that with such tools, content creators will have greater control over how their content is utilized for AI training and applications.