According to TechCrunch, Microsoft’s AI chatbot Copilot will be completely removed from WhatsApp after January 15, 2024. The company confirmed this change is necessary to comply with WhatsApp’s revised platform policies announced last month. Meta-owned WhatsApp will no longer support general-purpose AI chatbots using its WhatsApp Business API, reserving those resources for other business types. This policy shift also affects OpenAI, Perplexity, and other AI companies with WhatsApp integrations. Unfortunately for users, their entire Copilot chat history on WhatsApp will be lost since the access was unauthenticated. Microsoft recommends users export conversations using WhatsApp’s built-in tools before the January 15 deadline.
WhatsApp’s AI crackdown
Here’s the thing – this isn’t just about Microsoft. Meta is making a strategic move here by clearing out all the big AI players from its business platform. OpenAI had already announced it’s winding down its WhatsApp integration too. Basically, WhatsApp wants its Business API to be for, well, actual businesses – not as a distribution channel for AI chatbots. It’s a pretty significant shift in how Meta views these partnerships. Remember when everyone was excited about chatting with AI through their favorite messaging app? That era appears to be ending, at least on WhatsApp.
What this means for users
For people who got used to tapping into Copilot through WhatsApp, this is genuinely inconvenient. You’ll need to download Microsoft’s separate Copilot mobile apps or use the web version. But the bigger headache? All your chat history vanishes. Poof. Gone. Because the WhatsApp integration was unauthenticated, there’s no way to transfer those conversations over. Microsoft’s advice to export chats using WhatsApp’s tools feels like a band-aid solution. How many people will actually bother doing that before the January 15 cutoff? Probably not many.
The bigger platform picture
This move highlights the ongoing tension between platform owners and third-party services. Meta giveth, and Meta taketh away. When platforms change their rules, entire business models can collapse overnight. We’ve seen this play out before with Facebook’s API changes that devastated many social media management tools. Now it’s AI’s turn. The question is – where do these AI companies go next? They’ll likely double down on their own apps and websites, but losing that frictionless access through popular messaging platforms is a real blow. It’s back to the drawing board for distribution strategies.
Business implications
Interestingly, WhatsApp isn’t banning AI entirely for businesses. Companies can still use AI to serve their own customers – they just can’t use WhatsApp as the delivery channel for general AI assistants. So if you’re a retailer using AI for customer service, you’re fine. But if you’re Microsoft trying to reach users where they already are? Not so much. This creates an interesting dynamic where the platform is essentially saying “we’ll support AI that serves business purposes, but not AI as a business itself.” It’s a distinction that could shape how AI companies approach platform partnerships moving forward.
