Microsoft has confirmed that its AI chatbot Copilot will be removed from WhatsApp after January 15. Once the cutoff date passes, WhatsApp users will no longer be able to access Copilot unless they switch to Microsoft’s dedicated Copilot mobile apps or use the chatbot through the web.
According to the company, the decision comes in response to WhatsApp’s updated platform policies, introduced last month.
Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, announced that it would stop allowing general-purpose AI chatbots to operate through the WhatsApp Business API. The platform wants to prioritise the API for other types of businesses instead. While this shift doesn’t prevent companies from using AI to support their own customers, it effectively closes WhatsApp as a distribution channel for AI chatbots — impacting players like Microsoft, OpenAI, Perplexity, and others.
OpenAI had already revealed its plan to sunset its WhatsApp integration in January.
For Copilot users, there’s an additional inconvenience: chat histories won’t transfer over to Microsoft’s apps or web platform. Because Copilot’s WhatsApp access was unauthenticated, Microsoft advises users who want to keep their conversations to export them using WhatsApp’s built-in tools before the January 15 deadline.
