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WhatsApp now allows limited free access to Meta’s AI rival chatbots
Meta Platforms has promised to give competing AI chatbots, including OpenAI, free access to its social messaging service WhatsApp in Europe but would start charging them once they reach a limit.
The previously unknown offer details come as Mark Zuckerberg’s digital and social media company, which also controls Facebook, seeks to placate increasingly severe EU authorities that are squeezing Big digital.
Meta handed its proposal to EU antitrust watchdogs last week after the European Commission indicated it was exploring a demand that the corporation grant rivals access to WhatsApp until it concludes an ongoing probe in the case.
Neither side disclosed details of the offer.
The Commission has not yet decided whether to accept Meta’s offer and interested parties had until May 18 to provide feedback, the persons added.
Once competitor AI chatbots hit a limit in terms of messages sent to users, Meta will start charging them, the two individuals claimed.
The wider case shows how the EU enforcer is seeking to ensure competition in emerging digital sectors by stopping Big Tech from gaining market power or blocking smaller rivals.
The Commission declined to comment, stressing its objective is to keep the developing market of AI assistants free and competitive for entrepreneurs.
It said Meta’s offer should give scope for additional talks to address its concerns.
Meta repeated previous comments that it has provided access to competing AI chatbots in Europe to WhatsApp business Application Programming Interface (API) free of charge for a month while it tries to settle the problem with EU regulators.
An API is a form of software interface that specifies how two software systems will communicate.
Smaller rivals, too, indicated they were unimpressed.
The Interaction Company of California, creator of the AI helper Poke.com, and French startup Agentik, both of which had complained to the Commission, dismissed Meta’s offer.
“Unfortunately, Meta’s current proposal is no where near addressing any of the competition concerns identified in this case,” The Interaction Company of California said.
“If Meta does not come forward with a truly constructive proposal without delay, we urge the Commission to proceed with the interim measures,” he added.
“Meta’s offer is discriminatory towards its competitors. “Meta’s own AI would be excluded,” says Jeremy Andre, founder of Agentik.
But Meta’s AI chatbot does not use WhatsApp’s API.
Meta had a policy in place in January that allowed only its Meta AI assistant on WhatsApp and then revised it in March to suggest rivals could use the social messaging service for a price.
That led to a second charge sheet from the EU watchdog, causing the company to suspend fees for a month while it examined its proposal with the Commission.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, announced on Wednesday that it has formed a partnership with Reliance Industries, owned by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, to establish the first artificial intelligence-enabled data center in India for the United States-based corporation.It is the first artificial intelligence-enabled data center in India, and it is owned by Reliance Industries (RELI.NS), which is owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani.
According to the announcement, Reliance is going to construct a data center in Jamnagar, which is located in the western state of Gujarat in India, with a capacity of 168 megawatts (MW). Meta will lease this data center, and there will be options to scale it up.
According to Meta, India is recognised as a desirable location for investment due to its rapidly expanding digital economy and enormous user base.
According to IMARC Group, a consulting organization, the data center market in India is expected to nearly quadruple to reaching $13.11 billion by the year 2034. This growth is expected to be driven by digital transformation, cloud adoption, and increased artificial intelligence workloads.
With the formation of a joint venture in August of the previous year, Meta and Reliance collaborated to develop artificial intelligence (AI) platforms and solutions for businesses in India, utilising Meta’s Llama models. The initial investment of 8.55 billion rupees ($89.67 million) had been jointly pledged by Reliance and Meta, with the proportions being 70 percent and 30 percent, respectively.
In the year 2020, Meta made a payment of $5.7 billion to Jio Platforms, which is a subsidiary of Reliance.
$1 is equivalent to 95.3500 Indian rupees.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced a 15-member roster for the Asian Games 2026 cricket competition with opener Sahibzada Farhan named skipper of the side.
The cricket tournament at the Asian Games will be hosted in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan from September 24 to October 3 with 10 teams contending for the gold medal. The wider Games are slated to continue from September 19 to October 4.
Farhan, 30, has played 46 T20Is for Pakistan and scored 1,305 runs, including two hundreds and 10 fifties. Pakistan have picked Abdul Samad, who has played five T20Is for the country, as the vice-captain of the side.
Four players in the 15-member team including Akif Javed, Ali Raza, Maaz Sadaqat and Saad Masood are yet to represent Pakistan in the T20I format.
Also, 14 of the 15 players picked for the Asian Games squad are part of the NCA White-Ball Camp which starts in Lahore from Monday, 15 June.
Pakistan Team for Asian Games 2026:
Captain: Sahibzada Farhan. Vice-captain: Abdul Samad. Players: Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Akif Javed, Ali Raza, Arafat Minhas, Haider Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Maaz Sadaqat, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Saad Masood, Saim Ayub, Sufyan Moqim and Wicketkeeper: Usman Khan.
Support Staff:
Mike Hesson (head coach), Ashley Noffke (bowling coach), Shane McDermott (fielding coach), Muhammad Tahir (physiotherapist), Imran Ullah (trainer) and Usman Hashmi (analyst-cum-team operations co-ordinator).
National Assembly members Chaudhry Naseer Ahmed Abbas and Saad Waseem called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif here on Wednesday.
Over their separate meetings, the legislators updated the prime minister about the status of ongoing development and public welfare initiatives in their respective constituencies while submitting recommendations for new projects.
They talked on the political affairs of their different constituencies also.
Federal Minister for Public Affairs Unit Rana Mubashir Iqbal was also in the meeting.
Meta partners with Ambani-owned Reliance to build AI data center in India
Asian Games 2026: Men’s 15-member squad announced
MNAs urge PM to brief on development, public welfare programs
ICC board meeting in India: Mohsin Naqvi gets invitation
The IMF mission has arrived in Pakistan for discussions regarding the budget.
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