On July 28, 2026, Meta made an official announcement regarding the global rollout of a new feature for Threads users. Now, users have the ability to directly engage in private conversations with Meta AI in chat, eliminating the need to publicly @-mention the account. This upgrade empowers users to privately share posts, images, links, or videos. Moreover, they can delve into in-depth discussions or pose follow-up questions concerning these shared contents. Importantly, the entire exchange process remains concealed from public feeds.

Previously, Meta had experimented with the AI reply function within Threads' public feed. However, this latest update takes it a step further by extending the functionality to private chat scenarios. Meta clarified that the primary objective behind this move is to offer users more versatile interaction methods, all the while upholding their privacy.

At present, Meta AI's posts and replies within the public feed are exclusively visible in five countries: Argentina, Malaysia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore. Although users are unable to directly block the Meta AI account, they do have options to manage their interactions. They can mark replies as 'not interested' or mute specific responses, providing a degree of control over their Threads experience.