WhatsApp has defended the rollout of its new Meta AI assistant, which has appeared as a permanent blue ring in the app for more users.

A few weeks after users began noticing that the familiar blue circle for Meta AI was appearing in the messaging app WhatsApp, a new feature is rolling out to keep chats from being used for training by the company's AI features.

AI and privacy expert Dr Kris Shrishak offered sharper criticism, alleging Meta is leveraging its vast user base to test AI products and gather data. He argued that Meta’s AI development process involved “privacy violations by design” through the use of scraped online content, including pirated books.