Meta to let rival AI companies put their chatbots on WhatsApp, but it won’t be cheap

Meta is permitting rival, general-purpose AI chatbot companies to integrate their services onto WhatsApp through the Business API, primarily in Europe for the next 12 months. This move follows pressure from the European Commission, which was investigating whether Meta's policy of only allowing its own Llama-powered AI assistant on the platform unfairly blocked competitors. However, access is not free; developers must pay a per-message fee ranging from €0.0490 to €0.1323 for non-template messages, which could accumulate significantly given typical back-and-forth AI conversations. This pricing structure has already raised concerns among some developers about creating financial barriers for smaller competitors. The new policy, which began rolling out in Italy on February 16 and expands to 30 more European countries on March 11, does not affect businesses using AI tools for automated customer support via predefined templates.

(Source：PC Guide)