Meta AI arrives in Threads DMs globally, offering private chats away from public feeds

Threads users can now chat with Meta AI in their DMs

Meta on Monday said it is rolling out its Meta AI chatbot within Threads' DMs, giving users a way to chat with the AI assistant. Although Threads users in select markets could already interact with Meta AI in public posts, like people can with Grok on X, this new integration lets users talk with the AI assistant privately. By giving users an easier way to talk to an AI chatbot, Meta is looking to keep users within its ecosystem, with an eye towards discouraging them from using third-party assistants like OpenAI's ChatGPT or Google Gemini. Meta AI is already available within DMs on Meta's other platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The new integration lets users share Threads posts, images, links, and videos directly with Meta AI. You can ask follow-up questions and dive deeper into topics, too. The update will be rolled out globally starting Monday, the company says. Meta noted it's continuing to test Meta AI in Threads public feeds in a handful of global markets, and is considering feedback before expanding availability more broadly. Users who want to see fewer Meta AI replies in their feed can mute @meta.ai, use the "Not interested" option on any Meta AI post, or hide Meta AI replies that appear on their post. By further integrating Meta AI into Threads, Meta is positioning its X rival as a place where you can get information and recommendations without having to leave the app.

Meta AI arrives in Threads DMs for all users worldwide

Meta AI DMs are rolling out to all Threads users globally. You can chat privately with the AI. In five test countries, Meta AI posts in public feeds but cannot be blocked, only muted. Meta is rolling out Meta AI to Threads direct messages globally starting today. All users can now share posts, images, links, and videos with Meta AI in a one-on-one conversation, ask follow-up questions, and explore topics privately. The feature mirrors what already exists on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Meta said the move responds to community feedback from users who wanted AI context without sharing conversations publicly. The more contentious piece remains unresolved. Meta began testing Meta AI in Threads' public feed in May, initially in Argentina, Malaysia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore. In those markets, Meta AI posts its own content and can be tagged using @meta.ai. Users cannot block the account. They can click "not interested" or mute replies, but the AI's posts continue to appear in the feed. Meta's smart glasses are already the subject of a privacy crisis over camera-based surveillance, and embedding an AI account that cannot be blocked into a social feed raises a different but related question: at what point does a feature become a presence that users cannot opt out of? The DM rollout is the less controversial half. Private AI chat is opt-in by definition, nobody is forced to message Meta AI. The feed presence is the opposite: AI-generated content appears alongside human posts whether users want it or not, and the controls available are limited to reducing its visibility rather than removing it. Meta recently added alerts that notify parents when teens discuss self-harm with Meta AI, acknowledging that the AI's presence in messaging creates safety responsibilities that a text-only social feed did not have. Threads has been Meta's fastest-growing app since its 2023 launch. Adding Meta AI to DMs extends the company's strategy of putting its AI assistant into every surface where users spend time. The question is whether an AI you can message but cannot block from your feed feels like a feature or an imposition. Meta is betting on feature. The inability to block suggests it is not interested in finding out.

Threads adds private Meta AI chats without cluttering your feed

Meta AI is coming to Threads DMs, giving users a private place to chat with the assistant without placing its responses in the public feed. Meta AI moves into Threads DMs following public-feed test Starting today, users can send Meta AI a Threads post, image, link, or video, then ask questions and continue with follow-ups. That could make the assistant useful for understanding a trending topic, summarizing something shared on Threads, or exploring context that would otherwise require leaving the app. The launch builds on Threads' expanding messaging features. Meta introduced standalone Threads DMs last year, later added group chats, and began bringing DMs to the web. Meta AI, meanwhile, was already available across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and as a standalone app. 9to5Mac's Take Supporting "AI" chats in DMs is much more natural and inviting than public feed conversations with chatbots, which can be spammy, annoying, and, well, public. Smart move for Threads, which initially launched without a native DM feature at all, instead relying on Instagram DMs.

Threads rolls out Meta AI in DMs: chats stay out of the feed

Global rollout lets users mute or delete unencrypted AI chats Threads, Meta's text-based social app, is adding Meta AI to direct messages worldwide, the company says. So if you want to chat with it, you can do that privately instead of pushing those exchanges into the public feed. From your Threads inbox, you can message Meta AI directly, ask follow-up questions about posts and conversations, and send over posts, images, links, or videos for context. Meta says it made the change after hearing from users who felt awkward using AI out in the open. It ends up feeling much more like a chatbot inside a messaging app. Those chats stay out of the Threads feed, and you can delete or mute them. They aren't end-to-end encrypted, though. Meta also says it can use the data from those chats to personalize content and ads, and parents will get alerts if a teen's conversations involve self-harm. If Meta AI showing up in the feed was the part that annoyed you, this is the version to look at. That's especially true after Meta's earlier tests in Argentina, Malaysia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore, where users could tag @meta.ai in posts and replies. The feature drew complaints for being intrusive, spammy, and annoying, and users still can't fully block Meta AI. The closest you get is muting the Meta AI account or marking its replies as not interested. Meta AI is already built into Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, so bringing it into Threads helps Meta keep people inside its own apps instead of sending them off to ChatGPT or Gemini. It's rolling out now in Threads inboxes globally.