WhatsApp users fume over new Meta AI button that you can’t remove – here’s what it does mark.wilson@futurenet.com (Mark Wilson) | usagoldmines.com

• WhatsApp update rolls out new Meta AI chatbot in more countries
• It’s represented by a small blue circle in chats and is in chat search too
• Many WhatsApp users aren’t happy that the feature isn’t removable

If you’ve been wondering what the mysterious new blue, purple, and green ring symbol in WhatsApp is, you’re not alone – and this wider rollout of Meta AI in the messaging app is proving controversial, to say the least.

The new circle or ring in the bottom-right corner of your chats is a shortcut to Meta’s AI chatbot, effectively its take on ChatGPT. The feature rolled out in the US and Canada some time ago, but it’s recently started arriving in countries across the EU, including the UK and Australia.

Because the EU is something of a heartland for WhatsApp, where the total number of users eclipses those in the US, the feature is back in the limelight – and it isn’t proving particularly popular, to say the least, according to various Reddit threads.

The biggest complaint is that there’s no way to turn Meta AI off. It sits prominently in your chat section, looking a bit like a bug, and has also now conveniently been integrated into the chat search bar, which says “Ask Meta AI or Search.”

That naturally raises privacy concerns, though Meta has been keen to address them in its Help pages. It says that “your personal messages with friends and family are off limits” and that, while “AIs can read what is shared with them,” your “personal messages remain end-to-end encrypted.”

That said, your chats with Meta AI aren’t encrypted and Meta says, “don’t send messages to Meta with information you don’t want it to know.”

If you happen to chat with Meta AI, intentionally or not, the best option is to delete the chat afterward. You can do that by going to the chat, swiping left on it, tapping ‘more’, and hitting ‘delete chat’.

Analysis: Get used to it, or prepare to jump ship

Despite some vocal online protests, it’s pretty clear that Meta AI isn’t going anywhere in WhatsApp. At last year’s Meta Connect 2024, Mark Zuckerberg boasted that Meta AI was already one of the world’s most-used AI assistants, with almost 500 million monthly active users.

Meta’s ticket to increasing that figure is by tapping into WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger. Meta AI is now based on the new Llama 4 model, which shows that Meta is keen to continually upgrade its assistant and make it a WhatsApp chatbot staple – whether we’ve asked for it or not.

One Member of the European Parliament has even raised the feature to the Executive Vice-President and Commissioner, questioning whether or not the lack of an option to remove it “aligns with EU rules.”

Maybe we’ll see Meta in the dock with the EU again soon.

Alongside the lack of a ‘disable’ option, the other main criticism of Meta AI in WhatsApp is that it simply isn’t very good. Having dabbled with it in the app, I’ve also encountered its limitations. It often misunderstands what you’ve asked or contradicts itself. For example, I asked if it could analyze images – it asked me to upload one, then said, “I can’t understand images yet.”

In short, Meta AI still feels a world away from ChatGPT and also starts with the disadvantage that it’s been thrust in your face within other apps rather than consciously chosen.

The solution for irked WhatsApp users will be to tolerate it or move to alternatives like Signal – a popular choice for privacy but one that may not be as popular among your friends.

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