Meta AI has disappeared from WhatsApp: Meta speaks of technical problem
WhatsApp and other meta-apps in Europe recently introduced an AI assistant – and criticism of it. Now it has disappeared. Meta promises a remedy.
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After the button for using the AI assistant, which was added to apps such as WhatsApp just a few weeks ago, disappeared, the US company has assured us that it is merely a technical problem. They are working on fixing it as quickly as possible, Meta explained at the request of heise online. Until then, the AI service in WhatsApp is sometimes still accessible via the chat function, but sometimes it is completely missing. So if you don't miss the function, but on the contrary welcome its disappearance, you shouldn't rejoice too soon: Meta is sticking to including it by default – without it being possible to remove it.
Criticism of the fact that Meta AI could not be deactivated
The AI assistant called Meta AI was only integrated into the EU versions of the Meta apps WhatsApp, Facebook, Messenger and Instagram at the end of March. It has access to the internet there, but some of the functions available elsewhere were not integrated in this country. Meta AI was previously accessible via a blue, round icon in the apps, which could be used to communicate directly with the AI assistant. The function could also be contacted in existing chats. Currently, however, this does not always work. The AI then responds neither to the "@Meta AI" prompt in existing chats nor to being contacted in direct chat. Meta has not announced how long it will take to fix the problem.
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After the AI assistant was added to the popular apps, there was also a lot of criticism because it could not be deactivated. Just this week, MEP Veronika Cifrová Ostrihoňová asked the EU Commission whether the implementation was compatible with European law. WhatsApp spokesperson Joshua Breckman assured the British Evening Standard on Wednesday that there are no plans to disable the function. Some would like it and some would not, "that's absolutely fine". And for those who prefer WhatsApp without AI, he also has a tip: "There is an AI-free version of WhatsApp if you don't click the button."
(mho)
