LOS ANGELES: Conversations with Meta AI in WhatsApp are set to become available in incognito mode soon, according to a post on the messenger's blog.
The Meta subsidiary plans to roll out a technology called Private Processing, which is designed to shield chats between users and the AI from outside access.
The incognito chats are set to be rolled out globally in the coming months in WhatsApp and the Meta AI app, WhatsApp says.
Here is how it is supposed to work:
- When a user starts an incognito chat, they begin a time-limited conversation in what Meta describes as a protected environment.
- The company says it has no access to the contents of these chats.
- According to Meta, these incognito chats are not saved and disappear after a period of time by default.
In addition, a new feature called Side Chats is set to be added in the coming months – a kind of AI second screen for WhatsApp conversations.
Here, the AI is intended to offer support by providing additional context to a conversation without disrupting the actual chat, Meta said. Side Chats are also set to remain private via Private Processing. No further details were given.
What is Meta AI?
WhatsApp users will have seen Meta AI as a small purple flower symbol in the messenger app, on Instagram or on Facebook. The AI is designed to answer big and small questions, make recommendations and generate images. Meta calls it a "personal assistant, travel guide, wellness coach and more."
According to Meta, the AI can only read messages that are shared with it and does not read all personal conversations. Interactions with Meta AI are also not to be used to train the company's in-house AI models, the company says.
Users do not yet appear to have fully warmed to the AI chatbot, however. Anyone who types "Meta AI" into a search engine will see various questions being answered about how to get rid of it.
Meta AI can currently be switched off in the WhatsApp messenger only for individual chats. This is done by activating the "Advanced Chat Privacy" feature in the settings of a chat or group. – dpa
