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WhatsApp Launches AI Private Chat Feature
The text-only feature uses Private Processing so Meta cannot read questions or answers, and chats disappear after each session.
- On Wednesday, May 13, 2026, Meta introduced Incognito Chat, a new WhatsApp feature enabling private conversations with its Meta AI chatbot. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg described it as the "first major AI product where there is no log of your conversations stored on servers."
- Meta developed this mode because users frequently ask chatbots sensitive personal, health, or financial questions. Will Cathcart, Meta's head of WhatsApp, stated people want to discuss private subjects without sharing information with the company.
- Incognito Chat utilizes Meta's Private Processing technology and Trusted Execution Environments to ensure AI inference remains inaccessible to the company. Cathcart noted the feature is currently text-only, though support for image processing is in development.
- Prof Alan Woodward, a cyber security expert at Surrey University, noted the system poses low risk to existing security. However, Woodward cautioned that disappearing messages could create accountability gaps if AI responses lead to harm or illegal activity.
- Alongside this launch, Meta announced "Side Chat with Meta AI," a feature coming in the next few months allowing private AI queries within ongoing text chats. The tools will roll out across WhatsApp and the standalone Meta AI app.
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Total News Sources71
Leaning Left13Leaning Right6Center28Last UpdatedBias Distribution59% Center
Bias Distribution
- 59% of the sources are Center
59% Center
L 28%
C 59%
13%
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