On Wednesday, WhatsApp introduced a new feature powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that allows users to summarize their messages. Named Message Summaries, this function utilizes Meta AI to assist users in keeping track of unread messages. According to Meta, the feature incorporates a technology called Private Processing, designed to ensure that messages remain unread by anyone else in the chat, including the parent company itself. Users can also employ Advanced Chat Privacy on WhatsApp to select specific texts for summarization.
Message Summaries on WhatsApp
In a blog post, WhatsApp provided insights into its new Message Summaries feature. The tool is accessible for both individual and group chats and is completely optional, with the feature disabled by default. Users can generate summaries in a bulleted format by tapping the Unread messages icon within a chat.
The generated summary window displays the phrase “visible only to you” and is secured by Private Processing. This mechanism allows Meta AI to create summaries without allowing either the chatbot or WhatsApp itself to access the messages or the AI-generated content.
Initially, Message Summaries will be available to users in the United States, exclusively in English. The company plans to broaden its availability to other languages and regions later in the year.
How It Works
Meta, the parent organization of WhatsApp, elaborated that Private Processing is an infrastructure that functions atop a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE). This security feature enables users to interact with the AI chatbot within a private cloud setting. It operates on a threat model and adheres to three foundational requirements.
The first requirement is confidential processing, ensuring that Private Processing is structured in a manner that prohibits access to user data by any first or third-party system during processing or transit to the infrastructure.
The second requirement focuses on enforceable guarantees. It stipulates that if a malicious actor tries to alter the confidentiality guarantee, the system will shut down to prevent further actions, or the attempted modification will be made publicly known through verifiable transparency, which is the third foundational requirement.
These foundational requirements enable users and security researchers to audit the functionality of Private Processing, verifying the security and privacy assurances provided by Meta. Additionally, two more layers of requirements—non-targetability and stateless processing along with forward security—are considered essential to the robustness of Private Processing within WhatsApp.
