AI comes to WhatsApp 

In the past week, WhatsApp users have noticed a new option in their app: Meta AI. Those who enabled it would have been startled to discover it has the text generating capability of ChatGPT and the image creation capacity of Dall-E, Microsoft Image Creator and Midjourney. It is made possible by Meta’s generative AI platform, based on the Llama 3 large language model.

Since Friday, 19 April, it has been available on phone for free in Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, across four Meta platforms: WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Messenger.

Meta said that Llama 3 was a significant step in making Meta AI smarter, faster, and more fun. 

“The rollout of this AI assistant in English will enhance connections and provide millions of Africans with tools to be more creative, expressive, and productive,” Meta said in its announcement.  

Meta AI can be used in feeds, chats, search and other activities across the apps to get things done and access real-time information without leaving the app. 

Mark Zuckerberg said: “Our goal is to build the world’s leading AI. We believe Meta AI is now the most intelligent AI assistant that you can freely use. To make Meta AI even smarter, we’ve also integrated real time knowledge from Google and Bing, right into the answers. We’re also making it much easier to use across our apps.”

The new features of Meta AI include the ability to animate images, regenerate them in a new style, or turn them into a GIF to share with friends.