WhatsApp: Meta AI features and encryption
I’ve been using WhatsApp since before it was a Meta property, and it’s probably the only current Meta app I’d keep. It’s a great instant messaging app that works on iPhone and Android and provides the same end-to-end encryption as competing chat apps like iMessage and Signal.
That encryption predates Facebook’s purchase of WhatsApp, and it’s a feature the company had to ensure it kept unaltered over the years, even if it meant Facebook (and now Meta) could not monetize WhatsApp’s massive user base.
Introduction of Meta AI in WhatsApp
Now that Meta has developed Meta AI, its version of ChatGPT, the company forced the AI on all its customers. All Meta apps, whether Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, or WhatsApp, now feature that multi-colored circle that says AI is in the room.
I’ve said more than once that I do not want that sort of invasive AI into WhatsApp. It’s one thing to choose to text ChatGPT or Perplexity and even Meta AI from WhatsApp on your own accord, and quite another to have the Meta AI menu invade your chat.
Enhancing AI features in WhatsApp
Meta added Meta AI to WhatsApp without breaking the app’s strong encryption. It’s also worth noting that Meta gave WhatsApp a new privacy feature that ensures Meta AI can’t be brought into a conversation if one of the parties doesn’t want it.
But now Meta wants to offer WhatsApp users even more advanced AI features that require data to be processed outside of WhatsApp. That is, Meta wants to extract chat data from chats for things like summarization and suggestions and process it in the cloud.
The company developed an encrypted way to do it so end-to-end encryption would not be broken. However, this paints a massive target on Meta’s back. There’s no question that hackers, including nation-states with massive resources, would want to try to break the new privacy features Meta developed for WhatsApp chats.
Privacy and Security Concerns
If you can’t tell, I’m already dying to turn this feature off as soon as it becomes available in WhatsApp.
The new security feature for processing AI requests based on encrypted WhatsApp chats is called Private Processing, per Wired. It’s similar to Apple’s Private Cloud Compute, which is meant to keep Apple Intelligence cloud-based features protected with the same encryption as on-device iPhone security.
According to the report, using Private Processing in WhatsApp will be an opt-in feature, meaning it won’t be the default behavior for Meta AI. Wired notes that Private Processing is supposed to be secure by design, with audits to follow. The system is built to process and retain data for the minimum amount of time possible and is designed to send alerts if it detects any tampering or adjustments.
Conclusion
From a user perspective, the introduction of third-party AI like Meta AI in WhatsApp for message processing purposes raises privacy and security concerns. While advancements in AI technology are appreciated, ensuring user data security should be a top priority for Meta and other tech companies moving forward.
