WhatsApp is rolling out a new AI chatbot function designed for greater privacy (Picture: Anadolu/Getty Images)
To make its AI chatbot even more private,WhatsApp has introduced a new ‘incognito’ mode, making all conversations just between you and the robot.
Let’s face it,most of us have talked to an AI chatbot like a friend and asked something embarrassing or deeply private.
But if you haven’t,it could’ve been for fear it could be read by a developer thousands of miles away.
Now,WhatsApp’s chatbot function has gone fully private,meaning all conversations with the Meta AI are invisible to anyone else,including the tech company.
What the Meta AI incognito chatbot conversation will look like as its rolled out to users (Picture: WhatsApp)
WhatsApp,which is owned by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta – the goliath behind Instagram, Facebook and Messenger – said the messages will be processed in a secure environment that it cannot see.
Conversations are not saved by default either, meaning messages disappear and leave no trace.
Meta,which topped one billion users last year according to Zuckerberg,has tweaked the function after users were up in arms as they couldn’t switch off the incognito mode.
However, concern has been bubbling around AI and the possibility of abuse or harm.
Companies,including ChatGPT owner OpenAI and Google,have been involved in lawsuits after allegations that chatbots contributed to deaths.
Andy Burrows,the chief executive at Molly Rose Foundation,a charity campaigning for online safety,tech accountability and suicide prevention,criticised Meta’s move to roll out the new function.
He told Metro: ‘Meta’s decision to roll out encrypted,disappearing AI conversations is high-risk and deeply irresponsible move.’
Mr Burrows said the change would make it ‘impossible’ to find evidence whether chats could have contributed to harm.
Privacy concerns around chatbot models and data are also swirling.
The WhatsApp incognito mode won’t be a total free-for-all,but it will have safety features to stop the chatbot from responding to harmful topics,Meta’s head of WhatsApp,Will Catchcart,said.
He said the bot will steer users towards ‘helpful information if it can’ and can eventually refuse to answer or even stop interacting with the user.
Unlike with chatbots like Claude,Gemini and ChatGPT,users cannot upload or generate images when interacting in the incognito WhatsApp AI chat.
Catchcart said when the company announced the feature: ‘We’re starting to ask a lot of meaningful questions about our lives with AI systems,and it doesn’t always feel like you should have to share the information behind those questions with the companies that run those AI systems.’
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