What you can't do
There's no "connect ChatGPT" button in WhatsApp Business. Copying and pasting between ChatGPT and WhatsApp is fine for drafting a tricky reply, but it doesn't scale and it doesn't answer at night.
What Meta allows
Meta updated the WhatsApp Business API terms to exclude general-purpose AI chatbots, the kind that chat about anything. Assistants that serve a business's own customers (questions, bookings, sales, support) are still allowed. For a business, the essentials don't change: you can have an AI that answers about what you sell. Terms do change, so check Meta's current policy if you build on the API.
OpenAI also ran a ChatGPT number on WhatsApp for personal use; its availability has changed over time, and it was never a way to serve a business's customers.
How the connection works
- A WhatsApp entry point: the official API or QR linking, like WhatsApp Web.
- Something in the middle: n8n, Make or your own code, which receives the message and calls the AI.
- Instructions: who you are, what you sell, prices, tone, what it must never promise and when to hand over to a person.
- Memory: each customer's history.
We go through it step by step in n8n and WhatsApp.
Why "just ChatGPT" isn't enough
A model without instructions replies like a polite, generic assistant: long paragraphs, bullet lists, "Absolutely! I'd be delighted to help." Your customers notice. What makes an AI sound like your business is the work around it: your rules, your real examples, clear limits (no discounts, no promised dates) and the ability to stop.
The ready-made option
MultiChats is that surrounding work, already built: it links to your number by QR, replies in your tone based on your real replies, learns from your edits, sorts leads, follows up and passes you what matters. It uses Anthropic's Claude models, not ChatGPT, and your conversations aren't used for training. From €150 a month excl. VAT, no contract.
Frequently asked questions
Does ChatGPT have a WhatsApp number?
OpenAI has offered a WhatsApp number for personal chats with ChatGPT, and its availability has changed with Meta's rules on general-purpose assistants. Either way, it isn't a way to answer your business's customers.
Is ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini best for WhatsApp?
All three write well. The difference in results comes from the instructions, examples and limits you set.
Can AI just suggest replies for me to send?
Yes. That's MultiChats' draft mode: the AI writes and you press send.