AI can even generate WeChat Moments captions, comments and reviews now. Tencent customer service stated that the feature is currently in a small-scale internal beta test.
AI is penetrating into the most vibrant corners of social interaction, to the point that even the content posted on WeChat Moments can be drafted with the help of AI.
Recently, Jiemian News noticed that WeChat has launched the AI-assisted features for Moments, "AI Writing Helper" and "AI Commenting", in a gray-scale rollout. The "AI Writing Helper" can help generate copy suggestions, while "AI Commenting" can conduct intelligent analysis on friends' posts. All AI operations are supported by WeChat's native assistant Xiaowei.
In response to the two features, Tencent Customer Service told Jiemian News on August 11 that "AI Writing Helper" and "AI Commenting" are currently in a small-scale internal testing phase, and the test entry is not open to the public for the time being. Users can access the experience through the "Xiaowei" icon in the upper left corner of WeChat's main interface. If users do not obtain the internal test qualification, it is recommended to update WeChat to the latest version and wait patiently for subsequent version updates.
According to Tencent Customer Service, the "AI Writing Helper" and "AI Commenting" features for Moments are extended applications of WeChat Smart Assistant Xiaowei, and users can use relevant tools in Moments comments to assist their expression. Xiaowei also supports the creation of personal experience mini-programs, such as sports check-in and bookkeeping, and will continue to optimize the feature experience in the future.
Specifically, after users enter the Moments editing page, upload images and write a handwritten draft of text, the "AI Writing Helper" button will appear in the lower right corner of the page. Clicking it will directly jump to the Xiaowei dialogue interface. The AI will synchronously read the visual information of the images and the draft written by the user, and automatically generate copy in different styles such as concise, playful, and literary for selection according to the user's requirements. After the user selects the copy, it will be filled back to the editing box. Even if the user gives Xiaowei the instruction to "publish directly", the system will only stay on the to-be-published page, and the final click to send still needs to be completed manually by the user.
Example of the "AI Writing Helper" feature
The other supporting feature "AI Commenting" is mainly designed for interaction in the comment section of friends' posts, with a more hidden wake-up method. Users can long press any comment on Moments, and the "AI Commenting" option will be added to the pop-up window, which can call Xiaowei to interpret the semantics of the original comment and generate several reply copies in styles such as interesting response, warm and polite greeting, and humorous tease. To a certain extent, it can solve the social dilemma that many people have nothing to respond to their friends' comments. Consistent with "AI Writing Helper", all content generated by "AI Commenting" is only for reference materials, and the sending of replies still requires the user's secondary confirmation.
Example of the "AI Commenting" feature
In addition to the Moments scenario, Xiaowei has a number of capabilities based on the WeChat ecosystem, such as naturally operating WeChat's native functions through dialogue, including adjusting settings, sending messages, making phone calls or searching Moments; easily invoking mini-programs to complete daily services, such as registering for medical appointments, buying coffee, and displaying boarding passes; helping search for relevant videos or articles to reduce the cost of information search; and providing creation and efficiency tools, such as generating images or creating notes.
However, Tencent Customer Service told Jiemian News that features such as multilingual support and complex data statistics have not been launched on Xiaowei yet, and the specific update progress can be referred to in the subsequent version notes.
As early as June this year, Xiaowei launched the gray-scale test. For users who have obtained the internal test qualification, a green robot icon will be displayed in the upper left corner of WeChat's homepage, and they can also quickly evoke it by swiping right on the page. For the consideration of user privacy and content security, Xiaowei has set up multi-layer interception mechanisms for high-risk operations. Every step involving Moments posting, mass messaging, transfer and payment must be manually confirmed by the user.
After the launch of the latest "AI Writing Helper" and "AI Commenting" features, the public has put forward polarized views, with the core of the discussion focusing on the trade-off between social authenticity and tool convenience.
Some netizens believe that these features are just in demand for people with social anxiety and lack of creative writing skills. Some office workers and photography enthusiasts feedback that after traveling and taking casual photos of daily life, they often get stuck facing the images and cannot write a satisfactory short sentence even after spending more than ten minutes. The AI generates multi-style copy with one click, which greatly lowers the threshold of expression on Moments and increases the willingness to record life casually.
In contrast, voices of doubt and concern are also strong. Cheng Lingfeng, former director of Tencent's Media Business Group and senior industry observer, wrote on his Moments: "WeChat has launched AI to help write Moments posts and AI to help comment on posts. I'm disappointed. It helps NPCs become NPCs. There are fewer and fewer real people, and the acquaintance relationship chain is becoming hollow. The strongest real-person platform does not guard the bottom line for real people, then who will." His view has also been supported by many netizens on social platforms.
Other analyses believe that WeChat's implementation of Xiaowei's capabilities through Moments, official accounts, and group chats is essentially embedding AI capabilities into users' daily high-frequency operations, completing the popularization of large models among the public, making up for Tencent's scenario shortcomings in C-end generative AI, and breaking the current situation where third-party AI tools are separated from the WeChat ecosystem.
However, AI can solve the embarrassment of failing to express one's meaning properly, but it cannot replicate the real emotions and life insights that belong exclusively to individuals. On the other side of convenient expression, there are hidden worries about the homogenization of social content and the templating of personal expression.
Up to now, Tencent has only confirmed that the features are in the gray-scale test phase, and has not announced the specific timetable for full launch. Whether Xiaowei's Moments AI features will adjust the copy generation rules, add AI content identifiers, and limit the daily generation times in the future, all need to be continuously iterated according to the feedback of internal test users.
For ordinary users, "AI Writing Helper" and "AI Commenting" are just optional auxiliary tools. What ultimately determines the warmth of Moments content is still the user's own real life feelings.
This article is from the WeChat Official Account "Jiemian News", written by Song Jiannan, and published with authorization from 36Kr.