Perplexity AI announced WhatsApp support, matching a similar feature from ChatGPT — here’s how to use it, and why you shouldn’t.
WhatsApp might be one of the natural homes of Meta AI, but that doesn’t mean you have to use the app to talk to Meta’s AI chatbots. Meta practically forces Meta AI on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp users. Whether they want to use Meta AI or not, Meta has made big changes to these apps, so the Meta AI button/menu gets prominent placement. You might even activate Meta AI by mistake if you’re not careful. Also, nobody would blame you for tapping the Meta AI button at least once if you didn’t know what it’s about.
But you have options if Meta AI isn’t your default choice for chatting with AI. You can even chat with competing AI models in Meta’s WhatsApp, the world’s most popular instant messaging app. The best part about it is that Meta can’t stop you. WhatsApp chats use phone numbers to work. All an AI company needs to do is assign a phone number to its chatbot and make that AI work with WhatsApp.
OpenAI did it first, bringing ChatGPT to WhatsApp a few months ago. OpenAI upgraded the feature. It’s unsurprising to see others do the same thing, especially Perplexity AI, which is clearly looking to expand its footprint.
The AI search engine is now available in WhatsApp and is incredibly easy to use. Add Perplexity AI’s phone number to your contacts, and you’ll have Perplexity AI ready to chat with you on WhatsApp. Is it a good idea to go to Perplexity instead of ChatGPT? Now, that’s another matter.How to use Perplexity AI on WhatsApp
Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas announced the feature on X, listing the AI’s abilities inside WhatsApp and teasing that more features will be coming:
You can use Perplexity directly from WhatsApp now.
