Facebook parent Meta will begin allowing rival AI chatbots onto its popular WhatsApp messaging service in Europe, responding to complaints that the company could be unfairly favoring its own AI services.
Sounds good, right? If WhatsApp is going to be a platform for interacting with AI chatbots, it shouldn’t just be Meta’s own chatbots that users can chat with. And so Meta is now allowing that.
But if you listen closely to what developers and competitors are saying, you won’t hear them cheering, exactly. Instead, you’ll hear a question: Is the door really open, or just a little unlocked?
Here’s what’s happening: Meta is now allowing third-party AI chatbots to hook up to WhatsApp via the company’s Business API, which is the way businesses normally communicate with WhatsApp users. That means companies can launch their own chatbots that WhatsApp users can use.
But it’s not quite as simple as all that: Using the Business API has costs and technical requirements. Developers are saying that Meta’s pricing model could make some AI conversations prohibitively expensive, because AI chatbots frequently require strings of messages to function properly.
So even though Meta is allowing rivals to hook up their AI chatbots to WhatsApp, those rivals will still have to pay to use Meta’s messaging infrastructure.
Which has led some startups to say “We’ll see.”
That’s because the opportunity is huge, as messaging apps are a promising way to let users interact with AI services, without having to download apps or go to websites. In theory, users could use chatbots inside WhatsApp to ask questions, book appointments, shop, travel, and more.
Analysts say this could turn chat apps into platforms for delivering AI services. Which is why regulators care about whether third-party AI chatbots can get on the platform.
European regulators have been pressing Meta to allow third-party AI chatbots onto WhatsApp, citing concerns about competition and the dominance of Meta’s digital platforms. Meta owns the world’s two biggest messaging services, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, and regulators are worried that it will use that dominance to favor its own services over everyone else’s.
And they’re right to worry. As mentioned above, messaging apps are a promising way to let users interact with AI services, without having to download apps or go to websites. In theory, users could use chatbots inside WhatsApp to ask questions, book appointments, shop, travel, and more.
Analysts say this could turn chat apps into platforms for delivering AI services. Which is why regulators care about whether third-party AI chatbots can get on the platform.
Developers and competitors aren’t cheering Meta’s announcement, because they’re not convinced that Meta is truly opening up WhatsApp to everyone. Some think that Meta’s own AI chatbot will still have an advantage, because it’s baked into the service. Others think that if it’s too difficult or expensive for third-party developers to access WhatsApp, they won’t bother.
In either case, Meta’s gesture may not do much to change the status quo. Instead, it may simply be a gesture, a way for Meta to tell regulators that it is indeed opening up WhatsApp to other companies, even if not everyone feels like they’re truly welcome.
That would be consistent with the way big tech platforms have worked in the past, where the platforms have made noises about being “open,” when they really meant something else. Like, “Sure, you can come to our party! Just don’t expect to control the music or drinks, and don’t get upset when we don’t invite all your friends.”