WhatsApp AI assistant gets (too) personal after latest update

Not everyone may remember your allergies, but Meta AI will.

The popular messaging app WhatsApp recently released an update that allows users to communicate with Meta AI using voice chat. The feature helps users interact with the chatbot more easily by using their voice instead of writing text. You can test it by downloading the latest WhatsApp update.

Now, the application is working on ways to personalize this experience even further. If a person uses the AI chatbot, once they’re done with the conversation, the information discussed will be gone. WhatsApp is about to change that by developing a chat memory feature that would provide users with customized answers.

Chat memory can remember personal information about a user. For example, it would know things like a person's birthday, what books or podcasts they like, what allergies they have, and their dietary preferences.

Meta AI says it stores this information to provide users with more tailored answers to their queries.

Considering the risks with Meta accessing and holding such personal information, users can expect to have full control over what the new feature remembers. They’ll be able to update or delete their information at any time.

The new feature learns about a user’s likes/dislikes and behavioral patterns by recording what they talk about. Meta AI can access this information when they enable the chat memory feature.

Right now, the new feature is still being developed and should come out with WhatsApp beta for Android 2.24.22.9 update.

Meta AI is an AI chatbot accessible on WhatsApp. It provides users with answers to questions, gives recommendations, generates images, edits content, and more.