Is Meta AI safe? The answer to the question from WhatsApp’s artificial intelligence button

The recent appearance of the blue circle on the instant messaging app led many to re-examine the technological security of their device; can this AI be trusted?

The arrival of Meta AI, the artificial intelligence that is available on different platforms of the company, such as Instagram and WhatsApp, led many users to distrust this new tool. Many prefer to avoid them, because they believe that they are not safe considering that they listen, collect information and violate privacy. However, when asking Meta AI if it can be trusted, the artificial intelligence is blunt.

Meta AI is a platform that, like other AI chats, answers queries and creates content from simple or complex requests. When asked about the security and protection of users on WhatsApp, the button says: “This chat is safe. As a Meta AI language model, I am designed to protect the privacy and security of users.”

In addition, it specified other details related to the security it provides. “Here are some guarantees that I offer you,” it begins to explain and then describes:

• Privacy: Messages and conversations with AI are confidential and are not shared with third parties.
• No storage: AI does not save messages or conversations once they have been sent. Each time you interact with the tool, it is a new conversation.
• No reading of other chats: AI does not have access to the user’s conversations with other people or in other chats.
• No listening: AI does not have the ability to listen to the user or access the audio device.
• Encryption: Messages are encrypted during transmission, meaning only AI and the user can see the content of the conversation.

“My goal is to provide you with information and assistance in a way that is secure and respectful of your privacy,” Meta IA concludes.

What is Meta AI?

This AI is used to answer questions, create images and videos, assist in group or individual chats and solve complex problems, tasks that are very practical for everyday use with tools for consulting information. Today, some people can use it on WhatsApp. There you can find it with the icon of a light blue circle above the search bar in the “Chats” menu. It has three ways to use it:

• In searches within the app
• In conversations via the “@MetaAI (query)” formula
• As a separate contact, in a separate chat

How to disable the Meta AI button in WhatsApp

Despite its functionalities, many prefer not to have this blue circle at hand, so they prefer to disable artificial intelligence in WhatsApp. Whether out of fear for the security of private data or for other reasons, there are many who do not want to have access to Meta AI among the app’s chats. That is why they look for ways to minimize its presence in the messaging application. Although there are ways to do so, eliminating AI completely is not possible.

Below is a step-by-step guide to minimize the presence of Meta AI:

• Open the conversation with Meta AI on WhatsApp.
• Tap the three vertical dots icon in the top right corner (or in the chat menu, depending on the phone).
• Select the “Delete conversation” or “Delete chat” option.
• Confirm that you want to delete the conversation.

After this step-by-step process, the user will no longer receive messages from the system on WhatsApp and will no longer see Meta IA as a conversation between their contacts. And, if they want to talk to the tool again, they just need to search for its name in the contact list or start a new conversation by clicking the icon on the search bar.