WhatsApp announces Private Processing so users can use AI and preserve their privacy

WhatsApp has introduced Private Processing, a feature that enables users to utilize advanced artificial intelligence (AI) tools while maintaining their privacy.

Private Processing is a new technology that was designed for WhatsApp users around the world to use AI in a privacy-preserving way.

It uses a confidential computing infrastructure, built on top of a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE), and makes it possible for people to interact with AI to process their requests, like summarizing unread WhatsApp threads or getting writing suggestions, in a secure and private cloud environment.

“We set out to enable AI capabilities with the privacy that people have come to expect from WhatsApp, so that AI can deliver helpful capabilities without Meta or WhatsApp having access to them,” the company promises in a blog post.

How does it all work? For starters, Private Processing obtains anonymous credentials via the user’s WhatsApp client to verify their identity. Next, to maintain full anonymity, WhatsApp fetches HPKE encryption keys from a third-party content delivery network (CDN), meaning that Meta or WhatsApp can’t trace AI requests back to specific users.

In the next step, Private Processing establishes an oblivious HTTP or OHTTP connection from the user’s device to a Meta gateway via a third-party relay, which hides the requester’s IP address from Meta and WhatsApp. It establishes a Remote Attestation + Transport Layer Security (RA-TLS) session between the user’s device and Meta’s Trusted Execution Environment (TEE).

Once the session is established, Private Processing uses an ephemeral key to send an end-to-end encrypted request for AI processing from the user’s device to the selected TEE. All data is then processed in a confidential virtual machine (CVM) to generate a response. No messages are stored in the CVM.

Lastly, the results are returned to the user’s device, encrypted with a key that only the device and the pre-selected Private Processing server ever have access to.

Private Processing is optional and won’t be enabled by default, giving users full control over how and when they wish to use this technology.

Private Processing isn’t available immediately, but will be gradually rolled out in the coming weeks.

This is the second new privacy feature that WhatsApp has launched recently.

Last week, WhatsApp launched Advanced Chat Privacy. When this feature is enabled, users can block others from exporting chats, auto-downloading media to their phone, and using messages for AI features.

“That way, everyone in the chat has greater confidence that no one can take what is being said outside the chat,” WhatsApp said.