The American company Meta announced that it will allow its artificial intelligence competitors to run their chatbots via the WhatsApp application in Europe for one year, in a move aimed at calming the concerns of regulators in the European Union and avoiding immediate court orders.
According to Reuters, this shift came after the European Commission threatened to impose "provisional measures" against Meta, warning that the company's current policies could cause "serious and irreparable harm" to competition in the emerging artificial intelligence market, as Meta committed to supporting third-party chatbots via the WhatsApp Business API for the next 12 months.
This change will be implemented in about 30 countries, including EU and EEA countries, but the service will not be free, as a Meta spokesperson explained to Reuters that the company will be "legally obliged" to charge companies that choose to use the WhatsApp platform to provide AI bots.