WhatsApp beta users can now craft their own AI chatbots – here's why you might want one – Neowin
Welcome to the forefront of conversational AI as we explore the fascinating world of AI chatbots in our dedicated blog series. Discover the latest advancements, applications, and strategies that propel the evolution of chatbot technology. From enhancing customer interactions to streamlining business processes, these articles delve into the innovative ways artificial intelligence is shaping the landscape of automated conversational agents. Whether you’re a business owner, developer, or simply intrigued by the future of interactive technology, join us on this journey to unravel the transformative power and endless possibilities of AI chatbots.
Since the end of 2022, tech companies, and even non-tech companies, have been clamoring to pile AI into their services. Despite what many people say about not liking AI, plenty of people are still using it every day, making it a key offering. Not only that, but for public companies like Meta, the inclusion of AI does very well with investors, so that’s another reason it’s being added.
While the most common chatbot people talk about is ChatGPT, which is pretty faceless, there is demand for AI chatbots with a face, this is why people use tools like Character.ai and Replika. One of the only big tech firms that has gone down this route is Meta, which lets you create and share AI characters.
To date, some of Meta’s apps, like Messenger, allow you to chat with these AI personas but you can’t do that yet in the stable version of WhatsApp. The company is now testing it with the Android Beta and when it’s ready, it should make a more seamless experience across Meta’s applications.
Many of the popular bots that people use including ChatGPT, Gemini, and DeepSeek are faceless and offer the same tone out of the box. To be fair to Gemini, it does allow all users to create Gems now, and they actually offer a bit more flexibility than just creating characters to talk to like in Messenger.
The chatbots in Messenger have the benefit of being in the Messenger app, which most people use and giving them a personality and making them feel like an “AI person” fits better in Messenger.
Whether we really need these AI bots in Messenger is still up for debate. It’s quite a new feature and some people may find some good uses for them, but as mentioned, they don’t seem as flexible, or provide as detailed responses as custom bots made on Poe or Gemini Gems. They are definitely for having casual conversations with.
We’ve known that the chatbot feature was coming to WhatsApp for a long time already. WhatsApp beta for Android 2.25.1.26, released in January, included the feature for some beta testers. With the latest WhatsApp beta for Android 2.25.18.4, it seems like WhatsApp is trialing the feature with members of the public, suggesting its release is imminent.
Screenshots of the app, obtained by WABetaInfo show that you can describe your AI, select its personality, its traits, its image and more. The process seems to be the same as the process already available in Messenger.
One of the nice things that Meta provides when creating these AI bots is templates and suggestions such as the attitude of the bot or the instructions for the bot. This is the same as in Messenger and allows you to get started chatting with your custom bots faster.
In terms of sharing, you have the option to make the bots private, share them with friends (at least in the case of Messenger and presumably WhatsApp), or share them publicly. If you make something specific for your needs then the private option would be best, while bots with mass appeal could be set to public.
Creating bots in WhatsApp is straightforward once you have access to the AI Studio. During the creation process you’ll need to name your AI, define its personality, choose a tone, design an avatar (some will be made for you with Meta’s AI), and create a catchy tagline to attract users if you ever set it to public.
Much of the information will be pre-filled based on the initial details you provide about the AI’s role and personality. Some ideas for bots that you can create include a motivational coach, a travel recommendation AI, or a daily planner.
While setting up these AI bots is easy to do, users may find their actual benefits limited. Besides the nagging feeling that you’re socializing with a clever bit of code, Meta seems to truncate the answers of these bots so they don’t rattle on, but depending on what you want them to do, you may need them to give a lengthy response, but they won’t.
If you are looking for an AI that chats to you conversationally like real people do, then this could be the feature you’re looking for. The fact that you can personalize bots with specific traits is something you can’t do as easily in apps like ChatGPT and Gemini and the fact that they have an avatar makes them more connectable too.
Two of the defining features of Meta’s AI implementation is the ability to create custom AIs with a unique personality and to share them publicly. If you are having difficulty thinking of what a bot could be instructed to do, you can easily find community bots and interact with those instead and may find they provide some value.
While these bots could be interesting for some people, they do carry the same risks as other AIs and that is that they can hallucinate. There was also a case in the UK where a man had been encouraged by his Replika to break into Buckingham Palace with a crossbow to kill the then head of state. Similar issues to this could result from Meta’s AI chatbots in time.
While the feature is pretty interesting there are some things to be aware of. Firstly, the feature is still in beta on WhatsApp so you may run into issues and things could change once it’s finally released.
Meta also states that it uses your interactions to improve its AI services, for this reason it is essential not to share personal information as Meta could read it.
While Meta does limit the creation of bots that go against its standards, the company also warns that bots can output harmful content, so this could be dangerous for impressionable people who end up acting on what an AI has said with negative outcomes.
It’s not clear when these AI chatbots will be available in the stable channel but given that a wider rollout is underway among beta users perhaps we are not too far off. For most people, this is not going to be a must-have feature, just a nice to have. We’ve been using WhatsApp to chat with friends for years, so clearly the app is just fine without the inclusion of AI, but when it’s available, people may be able to get more value out of the app.
When the feature launches for all users, bots should be discoverable in the same way they are on Messenger where they’re categorized by category allowing users to begin chats easily.
It remains to be seen how users will interact with this feature in the long-run. Last year, we reported that Meta was looking to give bots profiles on its social networks and this was met by somebacklash in our comments section.
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