Viber introduces AI summaries for unread messages

Rakuten Viber takes advantage of OpenAI technology to create an AI feature that provides conversation summaries for unread messages in group chats. Developed to meet the needs of millions of busy users, this advanced solution offers a smooth and fast way to summarize key information from up to 100 unread messages in a conversation and present it in a concise manner.

The AI summary feature extracts the most important parts of a user's group conversations and instantly, succinctly, headlines what was discussed, saving not only time and energy, but also improving decision-making and productivity. Instant delivery of the summary helps users stay up to date without having to jump back into a long conversation that will require scrolling the screen between multiple messages.

Focusing initially on group chats, the AI summary feature serves as the most popular form of communication among Viber users. They will now be able to see the most important decisions and arguments gathered in a conversation for convenient reading. Imagine the convenience this feature will provide to parents managing their children's school or sporting events through collaborative discussions, family members planning a birthday party for a loved one, or groups of friends planning a trip together.

Activation is simple: users entering a group chat with unread messages will receive a message to optionally receive a summary of the part of the conversation they have not participated in. It is important to note that these summaries are only visible to the users who request them, thus ensuring privacy and confidentiality.

Security and data protection were the priorities in the development of this function. The AI chat summary content does not include any identifiers beyond usernames, so that specific conversations cannot be externally linked to any team member. In addition, Viber does not access or store conversations or summaries on its servers, creating a secure and private user experience.

The feature is gradually rolling out to users in the United States, the Philippines, Ukraine, Japan, Bulgaria and Poland, with more countries to follow soon. It supports iOS and Android platforms and understands more than 50 languages.