Meta AI; the generative AI assistant developed by Meta, the owner of platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Just like ChatGPT, with which we are all familiar, Meta AI is a chatbot.
“Maybe there’s a way they can integrate this chatbot into (one of their) platforms?”, I hear you thinking. And that’s exactly what’s happening. Over the last couple of months, more-and-more users are gaining access to Meta AI in their WhatsApp application.
This integration of an AI bot into WhatsApp surely carries some advantages with it. For example, you can ask Meta AI a question in a chat with someone else. Also, there’s the possibility to have a one-on-one conversation with the chatbot, but that’s nothing new.
But, with the absensce of a possibility to turn Meta AI of on WhatsApp, it’s feeling like Meta is forcing their chatbot on the users of their platform, in an attempt to convince their users of their chatbot. But is this the way to move forward?
For me, it’s clear that Meta is trying to strenghten her market position by bundling. Including her own chatbot in the most used messenger app worldwide sounds like nothing but a recipe for succes.
On the short term, it doesn’t feel like the move. People that are using AI chatbots already (e.g. for educational purposes), will probably keep on using the same AI chatbots as before, and the people that aren’t, will probably be “frightened” by the addition of an AI chatbot, and in a worst-case scenario abandon the platform. On the long term, my guess will be that more-and-more users will start using Meta AI in their chats, and the marketshare of Meta will grow. People will be getting curious, and less “frightened” by the addition of a new function to their favourite messenger application.
I’m excited for what the future of Meta AI on WhatsApp will bring!
