Microsoft’s AI chatbot Copilot leaves WhatsApp on January 15

Microsoft has announced that its AI chatbot, Copilot, will no longer be accessible on WhatsApp starting January 15. Following this date, WhatsApp users will be unable to interact with the AI unless they switch to Microsoft’s dedicated Copilot mobile applications or access the chatbot through the web interface. The company attributed the removal of Copilot from the widely-used messaging platform to comply with updated policies from WhatsApp. These changes, revealed last month by the Meta-owned service, state that general-purpose AI chatbots will no longer be permitted to utilize the WhatsApp Business API for customer interactions. Instead, WhatsApp intends to prioritize its resources for different business applications. Although this decision restricts the use of WhatsApp as a channel for distributing AI chatbots, it does not eliminate the ability for businesses to employ AI in serving their clientele. This shift will, however, have significant implications for companies such as Microsoft, OpenAI, and Perplexity, which had relied on WhatsApp for their chatbot services. OpenAI has already indicated plans to discontinue its own WhatsApp integration in January. For users of Copilot on WhatsApp, a key concern is the lack of preserved chat history when transitioning to Microsoft's platform, as the access to the chatbot on WhatsApp was not authenticated. To retain their conversations, Microsoft suggests that users utilize WhatsApp's built-in export tools before the January 15 cutoff.