WhatsApp and the future of AI
Problem with WhatsAPP
I remember installing the now popular (more like monopolistic and synonym to) messaging platform WhatsApp, 11 years back, when it was gaining popularity very fast. It was 59 rupees per year back then, and I was reluctant to pay when the end of my free trial approached. Few days before my free plan expired WhatsApp was free for all. Looking back, I wish the app stayed as a paid app with no monetising pressure.
Yesterday > 80% of my incoming messages were from businesses. Of which 50% were unknown (at least I had no idea these businesses existed, eg: Zupee Play). How did an app which is synonymous with personal messaging in the internet era become this? I always saw WhatsApp as an app where I would have deeply personal conversations, get updates on whereabouts of my family in almost real-time. The application is central to how I stay connected with my loved ones and well wishers. Imagine seeing a betting ad in the middle of important messages, texts that mean something. It was irritating, a month back, and now Its just sad. There is nothing I can do to get a version of the application without the Ads. Without constantly seeing unsolicited billboards appear between my personal communications. Thanks to Meta's business model.
A potential solution in the form of AI
LLMs with computer use are gaining popularity, we are yet to find a way to democratise this tech. However, if you are willing to spend a million tokens (which is HUGE) every few days, we may have a solution. The proposed solution will only get cheap and robust over time.
Proposed solution: AI will be my gateway to the web. Yes, the entire web. We are already comfortably using Gemini, ChatGPT, and Perplexity to search, we don't visit the webpages anymore from the search results, instead these LLMs are doing an awesome job at summarising and giving us exactly what we are looking for. The time when I would binge (a.k.a. ctrl + ) open tabs is gone, sometimes I just type what I search for in my cursor Ask. Taking a moment to think, I don't (need not) move out of my cursor window for anything.
The ideal way of dealing with WhatsApp is an MCP server, unsure if this is feasible without a business account. I have little knowledge about the specifics, but Meta is known for making their APIs difficult for just anyone to access. Say we come up with an MCP server, I can just ask Cursor or Anthropic to "LMK if there are any personal messages, delete all promotional material" and the LLM will take care of it. Either Cursor will give me a summary, or I just open my WhatsApp now that it is cleaned.
Alternatively, computer use will take care of opening and browsing WhatsApp. It will read, delete and summarise conversations. Is the session preserved? Do I login every single time? these are a few hurdles.
The future of web surfing
The solution brings us to an interesting place. I can consume what makes sense to me, what I want to consume on the internet without looking at stuff that I don't want to see. Adblocks are a great solution, I will block ads, you (as a website) block content if blocker is on and put a premium on it -- a total fair play. Assuming that computer use will take off for web consumption, we will start seeing the web from the eyes of LLMs, the gateways.
I just hope 5 years down the line the LLMs don't start showing content from Ads for money. Google is in plans to do this. But, there is a major chunk of open source models which are equally capable of aggregating information given raw info.
Conclusion
For now, the problem with WhatsApp stays. The day computer use becomes more streamlined, and an equivalent of computer use is released for Android we may solve this problem. Then again, will Meta adhere to AIs reading the conversations and eliminating Ads? -- I might be going in circles here.
Immediate solution, find an alternate platform, convince your entire family to move to this new platform. Remember it took your family >5 years to start using WhatsApp extensively. :/
Written by a Human -- Rushi.