Google's new AI-powered feature, Magic Compose, has entered beta testing, providing users with an assistive tool for crafting text messages. However, this feature has a noteworthy catch: it dispatches up to "20 previous messages" to Google's servers to generate suggestions, irrespective of whether you're using Rich Communication Services (RCS) with end-to-end encryption (E2EE).
This information is detailed on Google's Magic Compose support page, explaining that the messages, including emoji, reactions, and URLs, are sent to Google's servers. This allows the AI to create an appropriate response. Nevertheless, Google states that attachments, voice messages, and images will not be sent. However, "image captions and voice transcriptions may be sent."
E2EE was introduced on the app in 2020, ensuring that third parties, including Google, could not read your messages. Despite sending your messages to Google's servers while using Magic Compose, Google insists that it cannot read them. Google spokesperson Justin Rende confirmed to The Verge that the "conversation data used by Magic Compose is not retained," and the "suggested response outputs are not retained once they’ve been provided to the user." When Magic Compose is not in use, your messages will not be sent to Google's servers.
Showcased at Google's I/O event, Magic Compose is among the numerous AI-powered features developed by the tech giant. It helps users to reply to text messages using "stylized, suggested responses" in the context of the conversation. For the time being, this feature is available to users in the Google Messages beta program.
Users who have access to Magic Compose will see a chat bubble next to the message composer. They can choose a suggested response and proceed to alter the text using different preset styles such as "chill," "excited," or "Shakespeare." Currently, this feature seems to be limited to RCS messages, with no indication of when it might support SMS/MMS.
Microsoft has also introduced a similar feature in its keyboard app, SwiftKey, enabling users to craft text messages and emails with adjustable tone, format, and length of suggested messages.
