WhatsApp, the widely used messaging app owned by Meta, is finally joining the AI ​​club. The Meta AI icon finally appears for some users in India in the main chat list. Meta AI is powered by the company's Large Language Model Meta AI, or long for Llama. This is an advanced artificial intelligence technology developed by Meta. For WhatsApp users, the Meta AI can have conversations about anything from answering a query or making recommendations to just chatting with the AI.

Gadgets 360 gained brief access to this AI-based feature on Wednesday, after which it disappeared, indicating that it may be available for a limited time. The screenshots below show that the Meta AI chat opens with a verified badge and says “#with Llama#”. The chat pop-up says “Ask Meta AI anything” and has a number of suggestive on-screen prompts. Prompts are stacked in a carousel format and can be swiped to view more suggestions. As shown in the screenshot, prompts such as “imagine a car race on Mars”, “imagine a holographic bus”, “Healthy life goals” and many more can be given. Notably, the Meta AI icon is placed at the top right corner along with Camera and New Chat options. The icon reminds me a lot of Microsoft's Cortana assistant.

The Meta AI feature is available in a limited number of countries and only supports English. When you start a chat 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, in response to the prompts you sent to the AI.” The chat platform also specifies that Meta AI can only read and respond to chats mentioning @Meta AI, meaning the tool does not have access to other chats. The prompt adds: “As always, your personal messages and calls remain end-to-end encrypted, meaning even WhatsApp or Meta can't see or listen to them.”

How to start a chat with Meta AI on WhatsApp

Firstly, WhatsApp's Meta AI feature can answer questions, offer recommendations and also talk about interests. To start a discussion:

• Tap the circular icon at the top right of the main chat list on your WhatsApp
• Read and accept the terms (if prompted)
• Select a suggested on-screen prompt or enter your own
• Hit the send button and you've started the conversation

Impressively, WhatsApp also takes into account user feedback on Meta AI. Users can long-press the AI-generated answer and tap “Correct Answer” or “Wrong Answer.” Users can also enter a reason and submit it.

Meta on WhatsApp FAQ page mentions that “some AI-generated messages 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.