You cannot avoid WhatsApp using META AI to learn all of this information about you.
Without requesting your consent, Meta chose to incorporate its artificial intelligence directly into WhatsApp. If a blue circle appears on your chat screen, you're already in the experiment.
Even if they assure you it's optional, you won't be able to disable it, and that has consequences. In this article, I'll explain what information Meta AI is collecting from your WhatsApp, why you should be concerned if you value your privacy, and what you can do to protect yourself.
Meta has decided to integrate artificial intelligence into the popular WhatsApp app. This is a very important step, as all users of the messaging app will now have a circle directly above the new chat button, which cannot be removed.
When I opened WhatsApp one day and saw the famous blue circle indicating a new chat, I knew something had changed. I hadn't activated it, nor had I been notified, but here it was: Meta AI was already part of my messaging app. This AI is designed to answer questions, find information, or generate ideas. But what many people don't know is that everything you type in that chat isn't encrypted like the rest of your conversations. This means that anything you tell Meta AI can be read, analyzed, and stored by the company to further train its system.
It doesn't matter if you ask about the weather or a recipe. From that moment on, everything you share becomes part of Meta's training model. And here comes the first problem: there's no solution. AI is already integrated into WhatsApp and can't be disabled.
- This is all that Meta AI knows about you when you use WhatsApp?
If you've ever clicked the blue circle and interacted with Meta AI, here's what the company can learn about you:
- Everything you write in that conversation, from personal questions to sensitive information you may have inadvertently shared.
- Your phone number: This number is required to use WhatsApp.
- Your profile and in-app activity: While chats with Meta aren't encrypted, all other conversations are. However, this doesn't prevent Meta from knowing who you're talking to, how often you talk, and for how long.
- Your profile pictures, statuses, and recent updates.
- If you use Instagram or Facebook, using the same account, you can exchange data between platforms to create a more complete profile about you.
Even worse, Meta has confirmed that it will use public user data to train its models. While they assure us they won't read your personal messages, any interaction you have with Meta AI is already considered "valid" to feed into their system.
Many people believe their messages are secure because WhatsApp encrypts them. But with Meta AI, things are different. This chat is not encrypted. And, as with other similar features, there's no guarantee that the data won't be used in questionable ways.
Additionally, AI models require large amounts of data to operate, and the cheapest and fastest way to obtain this data is directly from users.
Meta AI on WhatsApp is here to stay, whether you like it or not. While you can't turn it off, you can decide how to respond to this new invasion of your privacy. My advice: Don't use it.