Meta Adds Features To Instagram And WhatsApp While "Poaching" OpenAI's Talent

The world is going through an AI-powered transformation, with user experience and artificial intelligence (AI) no longer separate; they now go hand in hand. As social media platforms compete for people’s attention, AI is starting to power everything from what we see online to how we talk with others.

For Meta, this change is a chance to lead the way. The company is working on new ideas to help people connect better, express themselves more easily, and enjoy smarter digital experiences. Plus, it recently notched a major win in a copyright lawsuit after a federal judge ruled that it didn't violate the law while training its Meta’s Llama AI model on 13 authors' books without permission.

With the lawsuit win acting like wind in its sails, here’s a look at some of the latest things Meta has been working on.
 

Instagram Adds Colored Backgrounds and Avatar Emojis to Notes in DMs

Instagram has officially rolled out two new features for Notes in your DM (Direct Message) inbox. The first one is Colored Backgrounds, where you can add a background color to your Notes to help them stand out.

The second feature is for Avatar Emojis to add a cartoon version of yourself in Notes for extra personality.

Meta also shared the update on X, saying, “Now you can add even more personality to your
@instagram Notes with custom colors and emojis.”


Notes are short messages (like little status updates or thoughts) that show up at the top of your DMs for 24 hours. Notes have proven to be popular with younger users, and they use them to casually express feelings, start conversations, or just drop jokes.

Instagram sees that more engagement is happening in DMs now rather than on the feed, so they’re improving the DM experience. Making Notes more colorful and fun is a way to boost interaction and keep younger users engaged.

These updates are only for Notes in the inbox, not for Reels or feed posts. Instagram previously removed them from Reels and feed Posts in March, indicating that the integration wasn't well-received in various contexts.

By providing more ways to personalize Notes, Instagram hopes to further resonate with the existing user base that actively utilizes the feature and potentially attract new engagement within the direct messaging ecosystem.

As Instagram finds new ways to make conversations more expressive, Meta is quietly rolling out smarter features for other tools, including WhatsApp.
 

Meta Introduces AI-Powered Message Summaries For WhatsApp Chats

Meta is adding an optional AI feature in WhatsApp that summarizes unread group chat messages. Instead of scrolling through unread messages in a chat, you can now tap a button and get a quick bulleted summary of what you missed.

They're using a technology called Meta's Private Processing, which, according to Meta, keeps your messages private and stops anyone, including Meta, from snooping.


WhatsApp says its Private Processing system creates a "secure cloud environment" to keep your AI interactions private. This means Meta or WhatsApp won't see your summaries, and neither will anyone else in your group chat.

WhatsApp wants to make it clear that these AI summaries are completely optional and turned off by default. You can even go into your "Advanced Privacy" settings to stop AI features from being used in group chats.

The company is still waiting to see how accurate these summaries will be, especially since other companies, like Apple, have some accuracy issues with their AI message summaries.

Right now, this feature is only available in English in the U.S., but WhatsApp plans to bring it to more countries and languages later this year.

Beyond adding AI to everyday apps like WhatsApp, Meta is making strategic hires behind the scenes to strengthen its long-term AI ambitions.
 

Meta Hires Three OpenAI Researchers For Superintelligence Team

Meta is intensifying its AI push, recently recruiting three researchers from OpenAI. This comes amidst an ongoing talent war in the AI sector, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman previously accusing Meta of aggressive recruitment tactics and “poaching.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai, formerly based at OpenAI's Zurich office, have joined Meta's "superintelligence" team, headed by CEO Mark Zuckerberg. An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the departures without elaborating, and Meta has yet to comment on the matter, too.


The recent hires follow Altman's claims last week about Meta offering his employees "bonuses of $100 million" to entice them away. This poaching practice highlights the fierce competition for top talent as AI companies race to develop more advanced AI models.

Altman previously noted, "I've heard that Meta thinks of us as their biggest competitor." Once a frontrunner in open-source AI, Meta has faced challenges, including staff exits and delays in launching new open-source models that can compete with those from Google, OpenAI, and China's DeepSeek.

These new hires, along with the recent recruitment of Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang and Meta's significant investment in Scale AI, highlight Meta leadership’s renewed focus to establish itself as a leader in artificial general intelligence (AGI).

As a Meta user, do you think the new features will enhance the user experience? Will Meta’s focus on AI innovation help further improve user experience?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!