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WhatsApp launched Incognito Chat and Side Chat features that let users interact with Meta AI while aiming to keep conversation content hidden from Meta. The system uses Meta’s Private Processing to run AI inference inside Trusted Execution Environments in the cloud, making chats ephemeral by default and designed to disappear after sessions. Meta plans image and voice support and invites third‑party audits and expert oversight to verify privacy claims, though critics note users still rely on Meta to operate cloud infrastructure. The move attempts to balance powerful cloud models with stronger user privacy assurances for AI chat.
WhatsApp's Incognito AI shows how large AI models can be offered in consumer apps while aiming to limit provider access to user data, a key concern for engineers building privacy-preserving services. Tech teams must assess trust boundaries when cloud-based inference runs in provider-controlled hardware despite confidentiality guarantees.
Dossier last updated: 2026-05-13 23:53:43
Meta announced it will add an “incognito chat” mode to WhatsApp’s AI assistant to address user privacy concerns. The feature uses private processing techniques so conversations are not visible to anyone, including Meta, and messages are not stored; messages default to disappearing. Meta framed the capability as providing a private space for thinking and exploring ideas without surveillance. The change signals Meta’s response to growing demand for stronger privacy controls in AI-driven messaging and may influence user trust and regulatory scrutiny around data handling in consumer AI features.
WhatsApp launched Incognito Chat, an AI chat mode that uses its Private Processing scheme to run Meta AI inference inside Trusted Execution Environments so conversation contents are inaccessible to Meta. The feature is ephemeral by default, will disappear after sessions, and is intended to reconcile on-device-style privacy with the larger compute of cloud models; image and voice support are planned. Meta invites third-party audits of the Private Processing code and says expert oversight will verify the feature’s guarantees, though users still trust Meta to operate the cloud. WhatsApp also added Side Chat with Meta AI to query the assistant about ongoing chats without leaking context to participants or external servers.
Lily Hay Newman / Wired : WhatsApp launches Incognito Chat, an AI chat mode built on Private Processing that Meta says lets users talk to AI without Meta being able to access the chats — The company says its new Incognito Chat allows you to use its AI chatbot without anyone else—including Meta—being able to access your conversations.
WhatsApp adds an incognito mode in Meta AI chats