Meta-owned WhatsApp has introduced a new Incognito Chat feature aimed at addressing growing privacy concerns around conversations with artificial intelligence on its platform.
The feature allows users to have temporary private conversations with Meta AI that the company says cannot be accessed, stored, or viewed by Meta itself.
According to Meta, the chats will disappear automatically by default, giving users a more secure way to discuss sensitive topics such as health, finances, and personal advice.
Meta said the new capability is built on WhatsApp’s private processing technology, which creates a secure environment for AI interactions while maintaining the platform’s end-to-end encryption standards.
The company described the feature as a response to increasing concerns from users over how AI chat systems handle private data.
“Incognito Chat with Meta AI is truly private, meaning no one not even Meta can read your conversations,” the company said in a statement announcing the rollout.
The move comes amid wider scrutiny of how technology companies collect and retain AI conversation data.
Competing AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude typically retain temporary chat logs for varying periods, often for security or model training purposes.
Meta also announced plans to launch a related feature called ‘Side Chat’ in the coming months. The tool will allow users to privately interact with Meta AI alongside ongoing WhatsApp conversations without disrupting the main chat thread.
For now, Incognito Chat will support only text-based conversations, with image uploads and generation disabled as part of additional safety measures. Users will also be required to confirm they are at least 13 years old before accessing the feature.
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