WhatsApp Introduces Meta AI Chats Designed for Complete Privacy

WhatsApp announced on Wednesday the introduction of an AI chat function called Incognito Chat, designed to let users engage privately with Meta AI—ensuring that Meta itself cannot view the questions or responses. This feature leverages WhatsApp’s Private Processing framework, launched last year, which already supports existing AI functionalities such as message summarization and composition tools.

The purpose of Incognito Chat is to provide AI chat integration that aligns with WhatsApp’s commitment to end-to-end encryption, the privacy model that allows only the direct participants in a conversation to access messages or calls. While many generative AI platforms now offer various forms of “incognito mode,” these typically aim to segregate users from their inquiries and the responses they receive, rather than completely shielding this information from the provider. With Incognito Chat, WhatsApp can only detect that a user utilized the feature, as stated by Meta.

Meta encourages third-party audits and vulnerability assessments on Private Processing, and claims that Incognito Chat will also undergo expert scrutiny to ensure the robustness of the code deployed for this feature. However, as with any cloud-based service, engaging with Meta AI on WhatsApp ultimately entails a level of trust in Meta, similar to using WhatsApp for communications.

“A significant part of our focus at WhatsApp is addressing scenarios where an ideal solution is challenging to implement—how can we provide alternatives that still offer privacy advantages?” WhatsApp head Will Cathcart explained to WIRED. “With AI, from a privacy perspective, you’d ideally want everything to run on your personal device, but the value of these models comes from utilizing larger computational resources. Thus, the key challenge is how to create a system in a data center that cannot fit in your pocket yet retains similar security properties. Incognito Chat is like we are operating a massive phone for AI without having the passcode.”

Incognito chats are temporarily stored and vanish once the conversation concludes. Cathcart mentioned that WhatsApp might explore options within Private Processing to retain some or all conversations over time for users wishing to keep a record. Currently, Incognito Chat is text-only, though Cathcart indicated that support for image processing and voice recognition is forthcoming. Minimizing latency, including through optimized routing, is essential to ensure the functionality of Incognito Chat within the secure cloud environment of Private Processing.

“Incognito Chat executes all AI inference in a Trusted Execution Environment, ensuring that your messages remain inaccessible to us,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated in a post on Wednesday. “The discussions on your device also disappear when you leave the session. This differentiates us from other disappearing AI products, where conversation logs often linger on servers of other companies for extended periods.”

Meta is additionally introducing Incognito Chat as an available feature in the Meta AI app.

Another feature unveiled on Wednesday alongside Incognito Chat is “Side Chat with Meta AI,” which allows users to essentially message Meta AI regarding a text conversation they are having with another individual or group. This aims to provide users the ability to seek AI advice for restaurant recommendations or movie suggestions being discussed by friends without inadvertently sharing these interests with a company.