As anyone who listened to Google's I/O keynote for the full two hours knows, the company is going all out on artificial intelligence this year: from AI-powered generative search to a Magic Editor that perfects imperfect snaps, there seems to be an area of Google's core services where artificial intelligence There doesn't seem to be an area of Google's core services that it doesn't touch in some way

One such area getting an AI upgrade is the humble text message, and now Google is allowing American Android users to try it out directly in its RCS Messages app as the beta version of Magic Compose rolled out

As the short promo video below shows, Magic Compose not only suggests responses based on what you're chatting about, but also lets you refine them by the style you choose

You can switch to the "Chill" tab if you don't want to seem desperate to ask for a dinner date, or if you want to creep out your Tinder matches, you can try a Shakespearean spin

This is a beta version, and participation slots are limited, with Google adding that "Google One Premium members who are part of Messages' beta testing program will have priority access" But that's probably not what catches the eye on the official support page

It's the fact that in order for Magic Compose to work, Google needs access to recent messages you have sent to the contact in question This is not done locally on the phone, but sent to Google's servers for processing, even if you are using end-to-end encrypted RCS

This may make users a little uncomfortable, even if Google tries to downplay its importance

"Google does not store messages or use them to train machine learning models," the company writes

"Up to 20 previous messages, including emojis, reactions, and URLs, will be sent to Google's servers and used solely to make suggestions relevant to your conversation

"Messages with attachments, voice messages, and images will not be sent to Google's servers, but image captions and audio transcripts may be" The company noted that this only occurs when Magic Compose is used, and that the messages are discarded from the server once the task is completed

None of this is entirely surprising, of course; the AI needs to know the context of the conversation in order to make suggestions, and the processing required to do this locally is too much for some hardware By outsourcing this to its own cloud servers, Google can provide the same AI magic to everyone, regardless of device

If you still don't mind, Google offers several ways to try Magic Compose yourself First, a few caveats: you must be in the Google Messages beta program, and even if you are, it is only available to those who are at least 18 years old, English-speaking, and using an Android phone with a US SIM card Android Go users are not yet eligible

If you meet all the criteria and have a beta version of Messages, you need to open an RCS conversation and tap the Suggest Message button Then tap "Try it" and select Magic Compose

From there, tap the same button and select the message you want to use You can then use the pencil-shaped icon to narrow down the selection, and swipe left or right between the tabs to select the style you prefer Tap on the message you like and it will appear in the full text box