WhatsApp is in turn using artificial intelligence! You will be able to access the Meta AI chatbot directly from the instant messaging search bar rather than from a dedicated button.
Like many popular apps, WhatsApp is getting started with artificial intelligence (AI). Meta’s famous instant messaging service will in fact be equipped with several functions powered by generative AI, as Mark Zuckerberg announced last year. In November 2023, Meta was already starting experiments, integrating generative AI functions into beta versions of the application to create personalized images and chat with celebrity chatbots (see our article). The company had also started to deploy its Meta AI chatbot, which was accessible from an icon, located just above the one which allows you to start a new conversation, in the Discussions tab. In beta version 2.24.7.14 of the application on Android, the specialized site WABetaInfo noticed that WhatsApp allows you to send a prompt to Meta AI directly from the search bar.
WhatsApp AI: a chatbot at your service
This new function allows you to chat with a chatbot, Meta AI. A true personal assistant, this conversational robot allows you to ask questions at any time on all kinds of subjects. Capable of accessing information on the Internet in real time with Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, Meta AI can give you a cooking recipe as well as recommend a tailor-made hiking route. With the latest beta version of instant messaging, you no longer need to open a dedicated conversation with the robot since you just have to type your question in the search bar. A suggestion, entitled “Ask Meta AI”, then appears, just below the search field. Just tap on it to start chatting. Additionally, WhatsApp will show you suggestions to help you launch your queries. A way to make the chatbot more accessible and make the action more intuitive. Afterwards, this can also be a disadvantage because, when you type in your search bar, you do not necessarily want to start a conversation with a virtual assistant, but rather to find a particular contact or discussion.
For the moment, the chatbot is only available in beta testing: we will therefore have to wait before everyone can benefit from it. But its integration clearly demonstrates Meta’s desire to make WhatsApp much more than instant messaging. Moreover, the application does not intend to be satisfied with the Meta AI assistant. The publisher has planned 28 other very special chatbots, because they are based on celebrity personalities: the YouTuber MrBeast, who plays a mocking big brother, the rapper Snoop Dogg, who acts as a dungeon master to play games of textual roles, but also Paris Hilton, Tom Brady, Kendall Jenner and Naomi Osaka. Meta is also testing the creation of stickers generated in a few words by AI, as well as a Photorealistic Image Generation function allowing you to create images representing a place, a person or an idea from scratch from a short textual description. In short, AI on all levels!