ChatGPT and Copilot are being booted out of WhatsApp
In a significant shift in the landscape of AI chatbots on messaging platforms, OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Copilot have announced their exit from WhatsApp. This decision comes in response to WhatsApp’s upcoming changes to its terms of service, which will prohibit the use of its Business API for distributing AI chatbots not developed by Meta. The new terms will take effect on January 15, 2026, but both OpenAI and Microsoft confirmed that their chatbots will remain accessible on the platform until that date. Users of ChatGPT will have the option to link their accounts to WhatsApp, enabling them to retain their chat history, while Copilot users will not have this capability.
The announcement follows WhatsApp’s October update, which explicitly bans AI companies from utilizing its business API as a distribution platform for their chatbots. This move is seen as a strategic effort by Meta to limit competition from rival AI services, ensuring that only its own AI offerings can be accessed through the platform. While WhatsApp will still allow other businesses to use the app for customer service or support chatbots, the prohibition against AI chatbots being the primary product effectively consolidates Meta’s position in the market. A Meta spokesperson emphasized that the WhatsApp Business API is designed to enhance customer support and communication for businesses, focusing on the needs of the tens of thousands of companies already utilizing WhatsApp for these purposes.
As a consequence of these changes, other third-party AI chatbot providers, such as Perplexity, may soon follow suit and withdraw from WhatsApp, leaving Meta’s AI as the sole option available on the platform from January 2026 onwards. This development raises questions about the future of AI integration in messaging apps and highlights the ongoing competition between major tech companies in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Copilot are both leaving WhatsApp thanks to upcoming changes to the messaging app’s terms of service that will prohibit using it to distribute AI chatbots not made by Meta.
OpenAI
announced its planned departure
a few weeks ago, with Microsoft
following it
this week. Both companies attributed the departures to Meta’s new terms of service for WhatsApp Business Solution, which come into effect on January 15th, 2026, and said the chatbots will remain accessible in WhatsApp until that date. ChatGPT users can link their accounts to WhatsApp to make sure their chat history carries over, though Copilot users won’t have that option.
WhatsApp announced the update to
its terms
in October, banning AI companies from using its business API as a distribution platform for chatbots. Other companies will still be permitted to use WhatsApp for customer service or support chatbots, with the terms only prohibiting cases where the AI itself is the product — a simple way of stopping Meta’s AI rivals using its own platform to reach customers.
“The purpose of the WhatsApp Business API is to help businesses provide customer support and send relevant updates,” an anonymous Meta spokesperson told
TechCrunch
at the time. “Our focus is on supporting the tens of thousands of businesses who are building these experiences on WhatsApp.”
The change means that other third-party AI chatbots, including Perplexity, are likely to announce departures from WhatsApp soon, leaving
Meta AI
the only option available from next January.
