WhatsApp, the widely used messaging app owned by Meta, is finally joining the AI ​​club. The Meta AI icon is finally showing up in the main chat list for some users in India. Meta AI is powered by the company’s Large Language Model Meta AI, or long for Llama. It is an advanced artificial intelligence technology developed by Meta. For WhatsApp users, MetaAI can communicate about anything, from answering a question or making recommendations to simply chit-chatting with the AI.

Gadgets 360 got a brief glimpse of this AI-enabled feature on Wednesday, after which it disappeared, hinting that it might be available for a limited time. The screenshots below show that the Meta AI chat opens with a verified badge and says “#with Llama#”. A chat popup says, “Ask Meta AI anything,” and there are a number of suggestive prompts on the screen. Prompts are stacked in a carousel format and can be swiped to show more suggestions. As seen in the screenshot, prompts like “Imagine a car race on Mars”, “Imagine a holographic bus”, “Healthy life goals” can be given. Notably, the Meta AI icon has been placed in the top right corner along with the camera and new chat options. The icon reminds me a lot of Microsoft’s Cortana assistant.

The Meta AI feature is available in limited countries and only supports English. When starting a conversation with Meta AI, the platform informs, “Messages from Meta AI and other characters are generated by artificial intelligence (AI), using a service from Meta, to send to your AI. In response to the outgoing signal.” The chat platform also specifies that Meta AI can only read and reply to chats that mention @Meta AI, which means the tool does not have access to other chats. “As always, your private messages and calls remain end-to-end encrypted, meaning neither WhatsApp nor Meta can see or hear them,” the prompt added.

How to start chatting with AI from Meta on WhatsApp

First, the meta AI feature in WhatsApp can answer questions, make recommendations and talk about interests. To start a chat:

• Tap the circular icon at the top right of the main chat list on your WhatsApp.
• Read and accept the terms (if prompted)
• Choose a suggested prompt from the screen or type your own.
• Tap the Send button, and you’ve started the conversation.

Interestingly, WhatsApp also takes feedback from users on MetaAI. Users can tap and hold AI-generated responses and tap ‘Good Response’ or ‘Bad Response’. Users can also submit a reason by typing.

Meta on WhatsApp Frequently asked questions page mentions that “some messages generated by AIs may not be accurate or appropriate.”

Meta recently announced Llama 2, the next generation of its large language model for generative AI assistants, and is expected to release Llama 3 in the coming weeks.