Meta has initiated the deployment of its groundbreaking WhatsApp AI solution to a select user base in Nigeria, marking a significant stride towards its broader release.
The models will be integrated into virtual assistant Meta AI, which the company is pitching as the most sophisticated of its free-to-use peers. The assistant will be given more prominent billing within Meta’s Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger apps as well as a new standalone website that positions it to compete more directly with Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s breakout hit ChatGPT.
The conventional search bar situated atop the WhatsApp chat interface undergoes a transformative shift, morphing into an AI-powered tool capable of furnishing prompt responses to queries.
Moreover, it furnishes users with an array of suggested questions, enhancing user engagement and interaction. Upon engagement, users are seamlessly transitioned into a chat interface with the MetaAI tool, mimicking a conventional chat experience, albeit with responses generated by the tool itself.
“The goal eventually is to help take things off your plate, just help make your life easier, whether it’s interacting with businesses, whether it’s writing something, whether it’s planning a trip,” Meta Chief Product Officer Chris Cox said in an interview.
