How-To Guidebeginner1 minute

How to Use WhatsApp AI Assistant

Use the !ai command for intelligent conversations, homework help, content writing, and more. Powered by Google Gemini.

BotWave's !ai command turns your WhatsApp into a Groq-powered (with optional Gemini fallback) AI assistant. It answers questions, drafts messages, summarises long threads, translates text, and even helps with homework, all inside the chat. No copy-pasting to ChatGPT, no separate app to open.

Prerequisites

  • An active BotWave WhatsApp session.
  • The !ai command enabled for that session (it is on by default on free tier with a 10-queries-per-day cap).
  • Optional: a Groq API key on the Boss plan if you want to use your own quota.

Step-by-step instructions

  1. 1

    Send !ai followed by your question

    In any chat where the bot is active, type !ai then your question. The bot will reply with an AI-generated answer in 1-3 seconds.

    !ai explain the difference between WhatsApp Business app and WhatsApp Business API
  2. 2

    Use reply mode for context-aware answers

    Reply to a specific message with !ai to ask the AI about that exact message. Useful for translating a long voice-note transcript or summarising a long forwarded text.

    !ai summarise this
  3. 3

    Pick a different persona (optional)

    BotWave ships with persona shortcuts: !ai --teacher (explains like to a 10-year-old), !ai --coder (returns code), !ai --short (one-sentence answers). Personas are configurable from Dashboard → AI → Personas.

  4. 4

    Set a daily limit per chat

    Without limits, one person can burn your whole free-tier quota in 10 messages. From Dashboard → AI → Limits, cap each user/group to N queries per day.

  5. 5

    Disable AI in specific chats

    Some groups (e.g. work chats) should never trigger AI. From Dashboard → Groups → Settings → "Disable !ai in this group" to lock it off per-group.

Expected result

Group members get instant AI answers inside the chat, with the bot handling rate limits, personas, and per-chat overrides automatically.

Power-user tips

  • Pin a !rules message that explains AI usage and limits so new members do not abuse the quota.
  • Use --short for FAQ-style answers; full mode for explanations longer than 3 sentences.
  • Combine with !translate for cross-language AI Q&A: !ai --translate yo "What time is the meeting?".
  • The AI is configured with a BotWave system prompt that prevents it from impersonating other companies or generating disallowed content.

Common pitfalls

  • Do not feed the AI personally identifiable information you would not want logged by an upstream AI provider for short-term abuse monitoring.
  • The free-tier 10/day cap is shared across all chats, if you have 20 chats using AI, plan for the cap to hit fast.

Frequently asked questions

Which AI model powers !ai?

Groq's llama-3.3-70b-versatile is the default, it is fast, capable, and free to use within BotWave's included quota. Google Gemini 2.0 Flash is available as an opt-in fallback for cases where Groq is unavailable.

Are my !ai prompts private?

BotWave never persists !ai prompts or responses. Prompts pass through Groq/Gemini briefly during the request, those providers may retain prompts short-term for abuse monitoring per their privacy policies. See our Privacy Policy for details.

Can I bring my own AI key (BYOK)?

Yes on the Boss plan. Add your Groq or Gemini API key from Dashboard → AI → BYOK. Your !ai usage then bills against your own provider account instead of BotWave's shared pool, and the daily limit is removed.

Why does the AI refuse some questions?

The model is configured to decline requests that would generate disallowed content (hate, illegal advice, instructions for harm). It will also decline impersonation requests, e.g. it will not pretend to be a different brand or company.

Ready to put this into practice?

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