Your Threads DMs just got a new contact, and it isn't human. Meta said Monday it's rolling out Meta AI inside Threads' direct messages worldwide — private chats with the assistant, right in the inbox.
From public replies to private chats
Threads users in some markets could already poke at Meta AI in public posts, the way Grok mixes into conversations on X. This is different. DM chats are one-on-one, and they're built for actual conversation: share a Threads post, a link, a photo or a video with the assistant, then ask follow-ups until you've got what you need.
Skeptical of a claim going around your feed? Forward the post and ask. Curious about a video? Same move. It all stays in one private thread.
Meta isn't easing into this one, either. The DM rollout started Monday and it's global — a sharp contrast with how slowly the company has moved on the assistant's public features.
The last piece of the puzzle
Here's the context that makes this more than a feature note: Meta AI already sits inside DMs on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Threads was the holdout. Now the assistant covers every major surface Meta owns.
The strategy isn't hard to read. Each question answered inside Threads is a question that never reaches ChatGPT or Gemini. Meta wants the assistant habit forming in its apps, not someone else's — and it wants Threads to feel like a place where answers live, which happens to be exactly the pitch X makes with Grok.
Still testing the feed stuff
The more contentious experiment — Meta AI replying in public feeds — remains limited to a handful of markets. Meta says it's gathering feedback before going wider, which suggests the company knows AI posts sprinkled into a social feed can annoy people fast.
If you'd rather opt out entirely, you can. Mute @meta.ai and it's gone. Tap "Not interested" on any of its posts. Hide its replies when they land on your own threads. The controls are all there.
The bigger picture
The assistant war has moved into the inbox. Standalone AI apps have to earn a download and a daily open; Meta AI just shows up where billions of people already are. That's the whole advantage, and Meta is pressing it hard.
What nobody knows yet is whether people want an AI in their DMs — or whether they'll treat it like the group chat member nobody invited. Watch two things from here: whether those public-feed tests expand, and how many people quietly reach for the mute button.
Image: RDNE Stock project, via Pexels
