Industry Odisha Bureau, Sept 23: WhatsApp could soon expand beyond messaging by allowing users to create and chat with third-party AI agents directly within the app. The feature is reportedly being tested on iPhones and could help users with tasks such as organising daily activities, drafting messages and managing different services.
According to WABetaInfo, the feature has been spotted in WhatsApp beta for iOS 26.37.10.70 through TestFlight. The third party agent system was previously reported to be in development for android and has now appeared on iOS as well.
Users may be able to create up to five agents through WhatsApp settings. During setup, they can reportedly give an agent a name, add a profile picture, receive an API key and connect it to a service operated by its developer. Once connected, the agent will appear as a regular WhatsApp contact.
The capabilities of each agent will depend on the service provided by its developer. The system may also support automated bots that do not necessarily use artificial intelligence.
The agents will reportedly only access messages, files or other information that users specifically share with them. They will not have access to other WhatsApp chats, contacts or media stores on the phone.
However, chats with third party agents will not have WhatsApp’s usual end-to-end encryption. According to WABetaInfo, this is because the agents are operated by external developers. The feature reportedly will not support disappearing messages, while users may be able to reset API keys to disconnect agents.
Currently, the feature is limited to select beta testers. The rollout date for the public is yet to be announced as well.
