WhatsApp is getting a major AI update in the UK that you can't turn off

WhatsApp will become the latest app to embrace AI in the UK after a major update was rolled out by the app's owner, Meta.

Whether you like it or not, artificial intelligence is becoming an increasingly present part of modern life, and now your phone is likely to include a new AI setting that you can't fully switch off.

On the brief times I've succumbed to ChatGPT I always make sure I say please just in case society does collapse and the AI robots take over, in the hope that they treat me mercifully.

For those who want to stay away from AI but use WhatsApp to speak to your friends and family, you're going to have a difficult decision to make soon.

After a brief delay due to a privacy complaint, Meta AI has already arrived on some phones across the UK, particularly on Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.

Artificial intelligence can be both a blessing and a curse (Chombosan / Alamy Stock Photo)

It launched across the pond back in 2023, so if you're American you're probably already very used to this update.

A quick check on my own Facebook Messenger shows that Meta AI - which functions as a chatbot - has in fact arrived.

On the official WhatsApp page, it explains: "Meta AI through WhatsApp is an optional service from Meta that can answer your questions, teach you something, or help come up with new ideas."

It adds that you can use the AI feature to:

• Have conversations with Meta AI
• Chat with Meta AI in existing group chats
• Ask questions and get helpful recommendations
• Talk about shared interests
• Interact with their content
• Create AI-generated images in chats
• Forward messages to Meta AI to ask questions or learn more

What has Meta said about its new AI?

Speaking of the new rollout, Meta spokesperson Ellie Heatrick told The Verge: “This launch follows almost a year of intensive engagement with various European regulators and for now, we are only offering a text-only model in the region which wasn’t trained on first-party data from users in the EU.

Meta AI has arrived in Europe (Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“We will continue to work collaboratively with regulators so that people in Europe have access to and are properly served by Meta’s AI innovations that are already available to the rest of the world.”

Can you turn off Meta AI?

Sadly, there's no way to completely turn it off.

There are options to temporarily mute the AI chatbot, but the tech is still running in the background, according to AP.

Of course, there's also the option of not engaging with the feature at all if you don't wish to use it.