Guide · AI · For the owner whose customers use AI

Your customer can ask an AI about your WhatsApp chat: Meta AI side chat, Incognito chat, Muse and third-party agents, and what each can see

A customer reading your WhatsApp messages may no longer be reading them alone. WhatsApp now lets people bring AI into their own side of a conversation in four ways: a private side chat with Meta AI, Incognito chats with Meta AI, Meta's Muse agent, and outside agents they connect themselves. None of them joins your chat. Here is what WhatsApp's own pages say each one can see, and what that means for the messages your business sends.

Published 13 October 2026

Side chat: Meta AI reads the chat, only for the customer

WhatsApp's Help Center describes a side chat with Meta AI: a person opens a one-to-one or group chat and privately asks Meta AI for help with it. Meta AI uses the messages in that chat as context. Only the person who opened the side chat can see it. Other people in the chat cannot, and WhatsApp says neither Meta nor WhatsApp can either.

What it can do: Answer questions, explain something in the chat the person does not understand, give advice about the conversation, help draft a reply, summarise the chat or pick out parts of it, organise what was shared, and turn action items into a to-do list.
How it is opened: By swiping on a small bar at the right side of the chat, or by holding a message and choosing Ask Meta AI privately. The side chat opens on its own screen and can be cleared with Clear chat.
How it stays private: It runs on what Meta calls Private Processing, a secure computing environment. The Help Center says prompts and answers are not stored once the session ends.
Web search: Meta AI may send a search query based on the question to selected web search engines, without linking it to the person's account. This is on by default and can be switched off.
Where it works: Only in limited countries and on certain devices for now. Using it is always optional, and WhatsApp warns that AI answers may be inaccurate.

What the Help Center does not say

The side chat pages describe individual and group chats. They do not say whether a customer can open a side chat inside a conversation with a business. We claim nothing either way; the advice further down assumes it is possible, because that is the safer assumption.

Incognito chat: a private conversation with Meta AI

On 13 May 2026 Meta announced Incognito chats with Meta AI on WhatsApp. WhatsApp's Help Center describes them as one-off conversations that only the person can see, which Meta and WhatsApp cannot access. By default the conversation disappears when the person leaves it; they can choose to keep the history, and it is then saved only on their own phone.

Unlike a side chat, an Incognito chat does not read another conversation. It knows only what the person types or pastes into it. One of the Help Center's own examples is asking for tips on how to reply to feedback before answering a message. In its May 2026 announcement Meta said Incognito chat was rolling out over the following months, and that a side chat feature would follow.

Muse: Meta's personal agent, inside WhatsApp

Muse is Meta's personal AI agent, which takes actions on the person's instructions. WhatsApp's Help Center says someone who already has a Muse agent can chat with it in WhatsApp, if they are in a country where Muse is offered, are logged in to their Meta account and have the latest version of WhatsApp. Connecting or disconnecting WhatsApp from Muse is done on the main phone, not on WhatsApp Web.

What it can see: For now, only its own chat in WhatsApp: what the person sends it, plus anything they choose to share with it, such as forwarded messages, photos or files.
What it does with it: Acts for the person, using what they shared as context. The Help Center does not describe Muse messaging a business on WhatsApp for someone.
Disconnecting: After disconnecting, the old conversation stays visible but no new messages can be sent from WhatsApp. Deleting the chat in WhatsApp deletes only the WhatsApp copy of the history.

The difference between Muse and the agent Meta offers businesses is in our guide Muse or Meta Business Agent?

Third-party agents: outside AI a person connects to WhatsApp

WhatsApp also lets a person connect up to five outside agents to their account, from WhatsApp Settings, then Agents, then Add an agent. WhatsApp may change that limit. These agents are built and run by other companies, which WhatsApp's terms call Agent Providers. The feature is only in limited countries for now.

What it can see: Only what the person shares in their chat with the agent. The Help Center says the agent cannot be added to other chats or read them, and WhatsApp's developer manual says an agent can only send messages to the person who created it.
Encryption: Chats with these agents are not end-to-end encrypted. A service from Meta handles them for the agent, and WhatsApp's terms say the Agent Provider receives, processes and stores the messages unencrypted.
Who is responsible: WhatsApp's terms, last updated on 25 August 2026, say WhatsApp does not build, run, endorse or verify these agents. The Agent Provider answers for what the agent says and does, anything sold through it, and how it handles data. Requests to see or delete shared data go to the provider.
What users may not do: Among other things, the terms forbid using an agent to get round WhatsApp's blocking, reporting or consent mechanisms.
Removing one: WhatsApp Settings, then Agents, tap the agent, then Remove. The old conversation stays readable.

What this means for a business

Our reading: write every message so an AI can retell it correctly

None of these tools joins your chat, but a customer can now ask an AI to summarise, explain or compare what you sent, either in a side chat or by forwarding it to an agent. Put the facts in the message itself: what a price includes, how long an offer lasts, the order or booking it refers to. A message that depends on an earlier phone call is the one most likely to be retold wrongly.

Our reading: expect a customer to arrive with an AI's version

WhatsApp warns that AI answers may be inaccurate. When a customer quotes a summary that does not match what you said, point to your own message, your business profile or your catalog rather than arguing with the summary.

Our reading: be careful what your own team pastes in

Your staff can use the same tools. A side chat or Incognito chat runs on Private Processing, which WhatsApp says Meta cannot read. An outside agent is different: it is not end-to-end encrypted and its provider stores what it is sent. Decide whether customer names, numbers or orders may go into one before someone does it.

A customer who wants Meta AI kept out of a particular chat can switch on Restricted chat, which WhatsApp says stops Meta AI features and linked devices in that chat. Our guide to Meta AI inside WhatsApp chats with a business covers that setting and when it is not offered.

Questions

Can a customer ask Meta AI to summarise our WhatsApp chat?

WhatsApp's Help Center describes a side chat in which a person privately asks Meta AI about an individual or group chat, and Meta AI uses that chat's messages for context. Only that person sees the side chat. The Help Center does not say whether it is offered in a chat with a business, and it is limited to some countries and devices for now.

Will we know if a customer uses an AI on our messages?

WhatsApp's pages describe side chats, Incognito chats, Muse and third-party agents as visible only to the person using them. None of them describes a notice to the other side of the conversation.

Can a customer's own AI agent message our WhatsApp business number?

Not through WhatsApp's third-party agent feature, according to its developer manual: an agent connected that way can only send messages to the person who created it. The Help Center does not describe Muse messaging a business on WhatsApp either.

Are chats with third-party agents private?

They are not end-to-end encrypted. A service from Meta handles them, and WhatsApp's terms say the agent's provider receives, processes and stores the messages unencrypted and answers for how it uses them.

Can we use these tools ourselves?

They are described for WhatsApp users in general, in limited countries, and the pages do not say whether each one appears in the WhatsApp Business app. If your team uses any of them, set a rule first about what customer information may be shared.

Sources

WhatsApp Help Center: About side chat with Meta AI, read 13 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: How to chat with Meta AI in a side chat, read 13 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: About Incognito chats with Meta AI, read 13 October 2026.
Meta Newsroom: Introducing a Completely Private Way to Chat With AI (13 May 2026), read 13 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: About chatting with your Muse agent through WhatsApp, read 13 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: How to connect or disconnect your WhatsApp account from Muse, read 13 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: About adding and chatting with third-party agents through WhatsApp, read 13 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: How to add, remove, and manage third-party agents, read 13 October 2026.
WhatsApp: Terms of Service for Use of Third Party Agents (last updated 25 August 2026), read 13 October 2026.
WhatsApp: Agent Platform developer manual (version 1, 25 August 2026), read 13 October 2026.

This guide describes WhatsApp's pages as we read them and is not legal advice. What Meta AI can and cannot read in your chats is also in our guide Can Meta AI read your WhatsApp chats with customers?. More plain-language notes like this one are on the guides page.

Want every customer chat in one place your team controls?

We set up a business's WhatsApp number on a system its team runs, so every conversation sits in one inbox the business controls and the whole team can answer from it. A short call is the easiest way to see how that would work for you.

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