The Meta AI logo presents as a blue circle with pink and green tones in the bottom right of the Chats screen.
By pressing on it, it opens a chatbot that is designed to answer your questions.
The rollout of the Meta AI function has been added to the platform for UK users in recent weeks.
A spokesperson for Meta, the owner of WhatsApp, told Newsquest: “Whether you need to settle a debate in a group chat, or have a burning question you want answering on the side, you can now use Meta AI as your very own assistant through WhatsApp.
“Meta AI can only read messages you share with it.
“Your personal messages remain end-to-end encrypted, meaning no one outside of the chat, not even WhatsApp, can read, listen to, or share them.”
Users could also ask for recipe suggestions or “restaurant recommendations in a group chat for all to see,” Meta advised.
However, despite Meta assuring it is an “entirely optional service that you can choose to use” and that the company is “constantly listening to user feedback” – the feature has drawn attention from users who want to remove it from the app.
Top tips for faster broadband
“I don’t want to AI to part of it, but it’s hard for me to delete WhatsApp,” one Reddit user wrote.
“Everybody I know uses it and will never consider an alternative, but I’m not happy AI is not part of it,” another said.
“From now on [since Meta AI] I will be telling people to reach me on Signal and just refuse to use WhatsApp,” one said, referencing another instant messaging service.
However, despite the change, people say it would be hard to leave WhatsApp behind.
One Reddit user said: “With some family members it’s literally a matter of not being able to talk to them if we leave WhatsApp.”
Recommended reading:
“Everyone I know uses WhatsApp and none of them are tech savvy enough or care enough to switch to something different,” another added.
WhatsApp frequently update its features and says it will “continue improving and adding new functionalities over time”.
In recent weeks, new features including updates to group chats, events, calls and channels have been added to the app along with ways to add music to a WhatsApp status and change the theme of a chat.
