TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Tech giant Meta has announced a new incognito mode feature for WhatsApp conversations with Meta AI. This feature allows users to initiate private conversations with the AI chatbot in a secure environment that is claimed to be invisible to others.
Users can start incognito sessions by tapping a new icon in a one-on-one chat with Meta AI. In addition to WhatsApp, the feature will also be available in the standalone Meta AI app and is scheduled to launch in the coming months.
Meta states that conversations in incognito mode will not be saved. Messages will automatically disappear after the chat is closed. Sessions will also end when users close the application or lock their phones, so Meta AI will no longer store the context of the conversation.
Vice President of Product at WhatsApp Alice Newton-Rex said people are beginning to use AI for everything, including some very personal matters, whether it's handling financial or health questions, or seeking advice on how to respond to complicated messages from friends or colleagues.
"We think it’s really important to give people the ability to ask these questions as privately as possible," Newton-Rex was quoted as saying in a TechCrunch report on May 13, 2026.
According to Meta, the development of this feature is part of the company's effort to build a secure AI chat system in WhatsApp. Last year, the company introduced private processing infrastructure that allows the development of AI features without disrupting end-to-end encryption. The infrastructure was previously used for AI-based message summary features.
Newton-Rex said the latest incognito chat feature uses the Muse Spark AI model released last month. Previously, Meta used a smaller-sized model to support AI features in WhatsApp.
Meta is also preparing an advanced feature called Side Chat. This feature allows users to summon Meta AI within a chat to ask questions privately without the knowledge of other participants in the conversation.
Currently, users still need to tag messages and ask questions to the AI in order to receive answers that can be seen by all chat participants. To ask privately, users need to copy the text to a separate chat window.
Several other technology companies have also introduced similar features. ChatGPT and Claude provide an incognito mode, while DuckDuckGo and Proton have launched chatbots focused on user privacy.
Meta's move to introduce private AI conversations comes amid increasing attention to the security of conversations with AI chatbots. Last month, the opinions of several lawyers stated that users' conversations with AI chatbots could potentially be used as evidence in litigation processes.
Read: WhatsApp Set to Introduce Liquid Glass in Chat Interface
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