WhatsApp Begins Offering Support for Third-Party AI Assistants
The popular messaging platform is testing a new era that allows users to communicate with external artificial intelligence services directly from within the application.
WhatsApp has started offering support for external artificial intelligence assistants in its Android beta version, allowing users to chat with up to five different external services from within the app.
The Era of AI Assistants
WhatsApp has begun testing a new feature that allows users to connect external artificial intelligence services and chat with them directly inside the messaging application.
The company published special terms of use for this new feature, clarifying the roles of developers and independent firms.
Independent Developers and Ownership
According to the terms updated on August 25, third-party assistants are created and managed not by WhatsApp, but by independent companies or developers.
At this point, WhatsApp merely provides the infrastructure and platform that enables these external assistants to communicate with users.
Connection Limit of Five Assistants
For now, WhatsApp allows users to connect a maximum of five third-party assistants at the same time.
When the limit is reached, users must remove one of the existing assistants before adding a new one, and this limit may change in the future.
Privacy and Encryption Status
While regular WhatsApp messages are protected by end-to-end encryption, chats with third-party artificial intelligence assistants do not fall under this scope.
Assistant providers process messages in an unencrypted format and store them according to their own data policies.
Beta Version and Limited Rollout
The feature was first spotted by WABetaInfo in the Android beta version 2.26.35.3 and is being rolled out gradually.
It has not yet been announced when the feature, currently available in selected countries and to a limited number of users, will reach wider audiences.