India, Oct. 23 -- Meta is shutting the door on all third-party AI assistants inside WhatsApp. Starting 15 January 2026, the company will prohibit general-purpose AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and others from operating on the platform. The move comes as part of an update to WhatsApp's Business API policy, which bans developers of "large language models, generative AI platforms, or general-purpose AI assistants" from using the system.

In simple terms, Meta is making sure that Meta AI becomes the only chatbot allowed to function inside WhatsApp.

The decision doesn't come as a surprise. Over the past year, Meta has aggressively integrated its own AI assistant across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, embedding Meta AI into chat b...