When Meta designed its new AI assistant’s icon as a frosty blue-purple ring, it probably didn’t expect it to send shivers down users’ spines.
Billed as a helpful aide for answering questions, offering tips and fetching the news, the assistant has prompted a significant backlash – especially from WhatsApp users, who claim it’s intrusive, omnipresent and impossible to remove.
Instead of welcoming the AI with open arms, some are threatening to ditch the popular messaging app altogether in favour of rivals like Signal and Telegram. The uproar has even drawn the attention of EU lawmakers.
Now, in a strange twist to the sorry saga, Meta AI appears to be quietly disappearing from some users’ phones – a change that may come as a welcome relief to many.
In a recent post on the WhatsApp subreddit, a user claimed that “Meta AI vanished from my phone” overnight, with others (including Brits) encountering the same issue.
“Mine has gone as well,” another user said, adding: “Hopefully it’s gone for good this time.”
Speculation is rife that the vanishing act may have been planned. A user from the UK suggested the negative feedback could be to blame: “It’s probably a staged roll-out … they’ll see what the problems are and figure out if people use it.”
Sure enough, when we checked for the AI on WhatsApp for Android, it was nowhere to be seen – which is strange considering it was available earlier this week. Currently, the Meta AI button that was so prominently placed on the Chats tab is no longer visible. The chatbot can’t be reached through the search field, either.
However, this doesn’t appear to be a permanent change. According to WhatsApp, it’s due to a “technical issue with Meta AI “which the company said it is “working on resolving … as soon as possible”.
Online theories aside, what exactly is going on? Well, as it turns out, this type of thing has happened before. Over the past year, there have been several instances of users reporting the abrupt removal and reinstatement of the AI feature on WhatsApp. Some have suggested the issue could be related to software updates, regional differences, or lack of support for certain phone models.
Meta AI is available in six European languages, including English, French and German. Coincidentally, its disappearance comes on the heels of an Android update, though that is aimed at fixing system-wide software bugs.
As one user noted: “As I updated my WhatsApp, the MetaAI button and its use in group chats is removed. Now I can't use it on groups and the button was useless, so I don't care about it. But using it in groups was very useful.”
Another shared a similar experience, saying: “So, I got this Meta AI icon in my WhatsApp sometime back and it was ok for the occasional use, but today the Meta AI Icon is gone. (I think some update happened). I was not on WhatsApp Beta channel before or now. Did WhatsApp recall the Meta AI?”
A separate user remarked: “Got an unlocked Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and live in the US. No meta AI bot. Got another S23 Plus but it has the bot. Any reason why my phone doesn't have it?”
It is unclear when the chatbot will return although some users may not be eager to see it back.
