Meta launches smart assistant in WhatsApp and Facebook for European users
Meta AI is now available in Europe: users of WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram can chat directly with the assistant, though with some privacy caveats.
Photo: Mariia Shalabaieva, Unsplash
This week, Meta began rolling out its Meta AI chat assistant in Europe. Users of WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram can now interact with the AI directly in the apps.
To use it, simply click on the blue circle icon or mention @MetaAI in a WhatsApp group chat. The assistant supports six European languages.
Meta states that its AI assistants already serve 700 million users monthly worldwide. While the feature launched in the U.S. in 2023, the European release was delayed due to concerns from privacy regulators.
Meta now emphasizes that the AI model has not been trained on data from European users.
However, if a message includes @MetaAI, the company can access that message—unlike regular private messages, which remain inaccessible for analysis.
Background
Meta AI is a division of Meta that develops artificial intelligence and augmented reality technologies. Unlike the AML team, which focuses on implementing AI into Meta’s products, Meta AI is dedicated to academic research and contributing knowledge to the AI community.