Why it is almost impossible to use WhatsApp AI in Spain

After several months of testing first in the United States and after in other countries, Goal He launched his artificial intelligencebased on the language model Callsrecently. The company of Mark Zuckerberg has made it available to users in various ways. There is the website of Meta AIwith an interface very similar to that of ChatGPTand the integration of artificial intelligence with Meta’s main apps: Facebook, Instagram and WhatsAppIt should be easy to access with so many options, but it is not from Spain or the rest of the EU. And the trick that is usually used to get around the geographical limitations of a service is of little use in the case of WhatsApp.Let’s see why.

The reason why Meta has not launched Meta AI in Europe is Brussels. In other words, European regulations make it difficult. As the company announced last month in a statement, it will not launch its AI in the EU “due to the unpredictable nature of the European regulatory environment.” Meta continues in negotiations with Europe and Perhaps this situation will change in the future.but for now that’s what there is. It is the same situation that you face Manzana with his Apple Intelligence.

The traditional resource to achieve Accessing a geo-blocked Internet service has always been VPNs or virtual private networks. This type of software offers a number of advantages to users, in terms of privacy and protection of their communications and Internet activity, and among them is the ability to be able to simulate the location that the mobile or computer is usingYou can be in Spain and select the United States, or another country, as the location of the IP that the VPN provides you, which is not the real one of your device, and if you connect to a service in the country of choice You will be detected as a user in that geographic areawhich will allow you to access without any problem.

This trick works with the Meta AI website and its integration into the Facebook and Instagram apps, not so with the web versions of these social networksbut in this case the reason has nothing to do with geolocation, but rather because Meta has not integrated it yet.

Why a VPN is not enough to use Meta AI on WhatsApp

Now, The case of WhatsApp is different and here a VPN alone is not going to help. And the reason is the close dependence of the messaging app on the user’s phone number.

Since its launch in 2009, each WhatsApp account created is linked to a phone number, this is not the case with Facebook or Instagram, and this also reveals the user’s location. In other words, in addition to a VPN, You need a SIM card corresponding to a phone number in the United States or another country where Meta AI is operational. Something that is not impossible to achieve, but it is not easy either and that will leave out the vast majority of the 33 million WhatsApp users in Spain.