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Meta’s decision to offer only its chatbot service, Meta AI, to WhatsApp users does not sit well with competition regulators in Europe. European Commission on Thursday He said It is launching an antitrust investigation into Meta’s move to block other AI companies from using WhatsApp’s business tools to offer AI chatbots to users on the app.
WhatsApp in October Changed its API trading policy To ban general-purpose chatbots from the chat app, saying that the API is not designed to be a platform for distributing chatbots. The policy change, which takes effect in January, will impact the availability of AI-powered chatbots from the likes of OpenAI, Perplexity and Poke on the app.
It is worth noting that this step does not affect companies that use artificial intelligence to serve customers on WhatsApp. For example, a retailer operating an AI-powered customer service bot will not be blocked from using the API. Distribution of AI-powered chatbots such as ChatGPT via API is only prohibited.
In its statement, the EU’s executive arm said it was concerned that the policy may “prevent third-party AI service providers from offering their services through WhatsApp in the European Economic Area (‘EEA’)”.
“As a result of the new policy, competing AI service providers may be blocked from reaching their customers via WhatsApp. On the other hand, Meta AI will remain accessible to users on the platform,” the committee wrote.
“AI markets are thriving in Europe and beyond,” Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice President for a Clean, Fair and Competitive Transition at the European Commission, said in a statement. “We must ensure that European citizens and businesses can fully benefit from this technological revolution and work to prevent dominant digital companies from abusing their power to crowd out innovative competitors.”
“That is why we are investigating whether the new Meta policy is illegal under competition rules, and whether we should act quickly to prevent any potential irreparable harm to competition in the field of artificial intelligence,” Ribera said.
If Meta is found guilty of violating EU antitrust rules, it could be fined up to 10% of its global annual revenue, and the Commission may impose additional measures on the company.
For its part, WhatsApp described the European Union’s allegations as “unfounded” and said that people have many other options for using chatbots belonging to competing artificial intelligence companies.
“The emergence of AI-powered chatbots on our business API is putting pressure on our systems that were not designed to support it,” a WhatsApp spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “However, the AI field is highly competitive and people can access the services they choose in any number of ways, including app stores, search engines, email services, partnership integrations, and operating systems.”