Meta is introducing a new AI-powered feature for WhatsApp aimed at helping users catch up on missed conversations more efficiently. The company announced on Wednesday that it is rolling out message summaries generated by Meta AI, which will condense unread messages in a chat into a brief overview – visible only to the user.
This feature builds on Meta’s earlier AI integrations launched in April and is designed with user privacy in mind. The company emphasized that these summaries are processed using its “Private Processing” technology, meaning Meta and WhatsApp cannot view message content or the resulting summaries. Additionally, users in the conversation won’t be notified when someone uses the summarization tool.
The summaries are opt-in and are not turned on by default. WhatsApp will display an icon in eligible chats to indicate the feature is available. Users can manage these settings by navigating to Settings > Chats > Private Processing, where they can enable or disable specific AI features, including summarization.
Initially, the tool is rolling out in the U.S. with support for English, though Meta plans to expand access to more regions and languages later in the year.
Previously, Meta AI on WhatsApp allowed users to interact with the assistant in chat or tag messages to provide context for general queries. The new updates mark a shift toward more contextual features, as Meta AI can now privately access messages to offer summaries or help with writing assistance.
As Meta continues to expand the utility of generative AI across its platforms, this development firmly marks WhatsApp as another platform that is likely going to see a number of AI-driven tweaks and experiments in the coming months – or perhaps even the same full-scale oversight that is planned for Meta’s larger platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
