The decision by Mark Zuckerberg's Meta to force its Artificial Intelligence (AI) onto billions of users via a mandatory update to WhatsApp hasn't gone down very well. In case you've missed it, Meta has added a glowing -indigo-violet circle in the corner of your WhatsApp that cannot be switched off.
Meta AI is powered by Llama 3, the latest generation of large language model (LLM) from the Californian company, which is run by Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg
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Tapping the icon launches a one-on-one conversation with Meta AI — a chatbot that competes with the likes of OpenAI's ChatGPT, which is built directly into Windows 11 and accessible via Siri on the latest iPhone models. When trying to tag friends and family in messages, typing the @ symbol within a WhatsApp conversation will now also suggest Meta AI. Tagging the chatbot in an ongoing conversation will let you access all of its features without leaving the chat window. In a Group Chat, everyone will be able to see the original prompt to @MetaAI and its AI-generated response.
Meta says only its Artificial Intelligence will be able to read messages with the @Meta AI command ...so your messages with friends and family should stay away from prying eyes, despite the chatbot intervening with an answer to your query.
Meta AI is also baked into Meta's other immensely popular services, like Messenger, and Instagram. However, it seems to be WhatsApp — the most popular messaging platform on the planet, with over 2.5 billion users across Android and iOS — where the addition has caused the biggest stink.
Powered by Meta's latest Llama 4 large language model (LLM), Meta AI can answer general knowledge questions, proofread text messages, suggest recipes, generate itineraries, or conjure never-before-seen imagery based on a written prompt ...everything we've come to expect from ChatGPT.
WhatsApp users will need to use the word "imagine" at the start of the message to kickstart the image-creation tool. It can be used to dream-up still pictures as well as animated GIFs that you won't find anywhere else.
Irritated app users have flooded social media to express their frustration with the new Meta AI feature.
"Why the hell do we need an AI in a chat app. It is so annoying," complained one WhatsApp user on social news site, Reddit. Another added: "The search part is the most annoying, am just trying to search someone's name not ask GPT to make a picture."
Meta AI can dream-up new images and animated GIFs from a written prompt, with audio and video on the roadmap for the technology in the coming months, Meta has teased
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On X, formerly Twitter, one user asked: "Anyone else feeling like their phone just got a clingy new roommate?"
Others have branded it "bug-ridden rubbish" and "pointless and irritating".
But despite widespread criticism, WhatsApp's parent company Meta has no plans to make the button removable. The Californian company has defended its implementation of the new feature, insisting it's "entirely optional" ...despite users being unable to remove it from their screens. Digging into the Settings screen in WhatsApp on both Android and iOS, there is no option to reposition or remove the circular icon for Meta AI.
A spokesperson for Meta told The Daily Telegraph: "We think giving people these options is a good thing, and we’re always listening to feedback from our users to make WhatsApp better."
Meta maintains that personal messages remain end-to-end encrypted. It has likened the arrival of Meta AI to other now-permanent fixtures in the chat app, like Channels and Status. However, both of these currently sit outside of the main list of individual and group chats.
The Information Commissioner's Office told the BBC it would "continue to monitor the adoption of Meta AI's technology and use of personal data within WhatsApp."
Despite the backlash, WhatsApp is planning to introduce even more AI features to its immensely popular services.
The messaging app recently announced it would explore adding AI-powered writing suggestions and message summaries under a new suite of tools called 'Private Processing'. These features are expected to be made available in the coming weeks — a decision that's likely to frustrate many WhatsApp users who are already unhappy with the current AI integration.
Dr Kris Shrishak, an adviser on AI and privacy, accused Meta of "exploiting its existing market" and "using people as test subjects for AI."
"No one should be forced to use AI," he told the BBC.
