Manny Ita –
WhatsApp has unveiled a new “Incognito Chat” feature designed to keep conversations with Meta AI private and inaccessible even to the company itself.
The new mode creates temporary AI conversations that are not stored and automatically disappear after users exit the session, offering stronger privacy protections for sensitive discussions involving personal, financial, health or work-related information.
According to WhatsApp, the feature extends end-to-end encryption to specialised AI-processing servers powered by AMD and Nvidia hardware, ensuring that messages are processed securely without Meta being able to read or access user conversations.
Meta said the system anonymises user interactions while preventing internal systems from inferring the content of AI responses through traffic analysis or processing data patterns.
Mark Zuckerberg described the feature as the first major AI product where conversation logs are not stored on company servers, adding that chats disappear from users’ devices once the session ends.
The launch comes amid growing concerns over how AI companies retain and use chatbot conversations for model training and data analysis. Several technology firms, including OpenAI, have faced criticism over AI privacy, moderation and safety practices.
WhatsApp also announced plans to expand the privacy-focused system with a future “Side Chat” feature that will allow Meta AI to assist users within ongoing chats without disrupting conversations, while still maintaining encrypted private processing.
