[Cumpiler69]

>Aren’t we all skeptical? What’s the real value exactly.

What's the value in the 7 billion Meta paid for WhatsApp?

[snakeyjake]

$19 billion for the single most popular service on the entire internet seems like a bargain and they just passed $1 billion in annual revenue last year.

As an American, WhatsApp seemed like an odd fit with Facebook but I also travel internationally a great deal. Almost every single interaction I have while traveling anywhere that isn't Europe and North America, from coordinating airport pickups with drivers to requesting fresh towels from hotel staff, occurs via WhatsApp nowadays.

It's actually really nice. I booked a dive in Belize earlier this year and all I did was scan a QR code of an ad I saw in the hotel, send them a screenshot of my NAUI app, sign a waiver from a link they sent me, then they sent a payment link, google maps directions, and instantly responded to my question when I couldn't find the right dock. All of this occurred on WhatsApp in the span of like 90 minutes.

In the US the process IS NOT that smooth.

[cainxinth]

Nitpick, but Facebook (Meta wasn’t a thing yet) paid $19b for WhatsApp.

[salted_coffee]

A lot of people use WhattsApp, especially outside the us. it is easily the greatest competitor to instagram in international markets.

[high_na_euv]

Data

[Cumpiler69]

So then why doesn't this argument apply to AI? Why do people think AI is gonna be worthless?

[high_na_euv]

WhatsApp is data generator

AI feels more like data utilizer

Sure, you can save the queries, but it aint much

[Cumpiler69]

Consumers are drawn into your service by convenience. They'd much rather get their answer via a quick AI chat than swifitng through pages of your data. Yeah, data is valuable, but if consumers have no easy way to get what they want from it, it becomes useless.

[mgh2]

WhatsApp when bought already had traction, Copilot seems forced

[bfrog]

Copilot feels like I’m getting a personal health examination I didn’t ask for, need, or want.

[high_na_euv]

You answered your own question

WhatsApp and AI Chats are different products.

[Cumpiler69]

No d'uh they're different products. I asked why people would think one is valuable and the other not?

[JohnFen]

There are different kinds of "worth".

Many things are valuable from a monetary point of view, but largely worthless (or of negative worth) otherwise. And many other things are worthless from a monetary view, but of great value otherwise.