Any Questions Answered: As WhatsApp develops its links with ChatGPT, a look back at AQA, the original phone text information service
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WhatsApp users can get help from ChatGPT through their phone, in a hi-tech alliance that links AI to the communication platform.
But to this Luddite, it brings back glorious memories of a couple of years in which one phone-based programme brought hours of joy to people trying to settle pub arguments.
Before smartphones, before everyone knew everything all the time, we used to sometimes be stuck with not having a definitive answer. It means you could never lose an argument if you were not near a computer (or more improbably, encyclopaedia) because nobody could prove you wrong.
And then a little tool came along which suddenly opened up knowledge - but with a pricetag of a £1 a pop. And that little tool was Any Questions Answered, more commonly known as AQA, which if you texted a query to 63336, would reply swiftly and sometimes rather wittily.
It was clearly just a bloke sitting on the internet, but that didn’t matter. It was Last Word in pub arguments, but also had a useful sideline; if you’d been in the pub for a while, the next morning it was a handy record of the conversation.
I remember vividly waking up one summer Sunday morning, and flicking through my phone, only to read: “No, the reason that Irish dancers hold their arms by their sides is not because of the Irish potato famine.” I honestly had no recollection of that conversation, let alone why on earth anyone would have claimed it.
In 2005, it was reported that the company was heading for a £1m-plus turnover and was answering about 3,000 questions a day, with eyes on leading a market that was hoped to be worth £30m by 2007. It even spawned a book - but there was a blip on the horizon.
However, the writing was on the wall as soon as Steve Jobs revealed the first iPhone in 2007 - launched in the UK in November that year - and the first Android phone made an appearance the following year.
AQA still exists as a service, now run by 63336 Ltd, having seemingly passed through several owners. I cannot say I have used it recently, but I hope it continues to do well, even if for me it will always be the fount of knowledge in noughties arguments and discussions. WhatsApp and ChatGPT has a lot to live up to.