WhatsApp said On Wednesday it introduced an AI chat function known as Incognito Chat designed to allow users to privately chat with Meta AI—such that Meta itself cannot access questions or answers. This feature is based on the WhatsApp Private Processing program, which launched last year and already supports WhatsApp’s existing AI features, including message summarization and composition tools.
The idea of Incognito Chat is to create a way for WhatsApp to provide AI chat integration that does not conflict with the social media’s commitment to end-to-end encryption, a privacy system where only direct participants in the conversation can read messages or hear the call. Most AI productivity platforms now offer some form of “incognito mode,” but these features are often designed to isolate users from the questions they ask and the answers they receive rather than providing a way to shield those questions and answers entirely from the provider’s view. With Incognito chat, WhatsApp will only be able to see if the account has used this feature, according to Meta.
Meta invites third-party testing and vulnerability reports on Incognito Processing and says that Incognito Chat itself will be subject to expert supervision so that third parties can ensure that Meta’s code deployment for this feature is robust. But like any cloud app, chatting with Meta AI on WhatsApp will ultimately involve trusting Meta in the same way you use WhatsApp to communicate.
“A big part of our work on WhatsApp is related to where there is a complete solution that is very difficult to implement—how do you give people other options that still deliver privacy benefits?” WhatsApp head Will Cathcart tells WIRED. “With AI, from a privacy perspective, you would want to use everything on your phone, but the advantage of these models is that they use a bigger and bigger computer to run them. So the challenge is how do you do something in a data center that won’t fit in your pocket but has the same kinds of security features. Incognito Chat is like we’re using big AI code and we don’t have a big phone.”
Incognito chats are ephemeral by default and will disappear once your chat is over. Cathcart says WhatsApp may be working on developing an option within Privacy Processing to save some or all of these conversations over time for users who want that history. And for now, Incognito Chat is text only. Cathcart says support for image processing and voice recognition is in the works. Reducing latency in any way possible, including optimizing routing, has been key to making Incognito Chat viable given the additional requirements of implementing AI within a secure Incognito Processing cloud environment.
“Incognito Chat handles all AI instructions in a Trusted Kill Zone that ensures your messages are inaccessible to us,” wrote Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a post on Wednesday. “Conversations on your phone also disappear when you log out. This is different from other AI products that disappear where your chat logs often stay on other companies’ servers for months.”
Meta is also adding Incognito Chat as an option to the Meta AI app.
Another feature announced Wednesday alongside Incognito chat is “Side Chat with Meta AI,” which combines the ability to DM and Meta AI about a text conversation you’re having with another person or group of people. The idea is to give users a way to ask the AI for restaurant suggestions or about the movie your friends are talking about without rewarding these places or your interests in the company.
