Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Trending Now Look Up Mashable Selects Say More Top creators, ranked Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Creator Playbook In My Bag AI at School Safety Net Versus All Series Meta's Muse reportedly keeps files on everyone you love Muse is keeping tabs on your friends and family. Matt Binder joined Mashable's tech vertical in 2018, where he covers social media, tech policy, cybersecurity, online scams, cryptocurrency, AI, creator news, weird tech, and other related tech beats. A new report details how Meta's Muse AI assistant is keeping track of everyone you have a relationship with. With more than 5 million downloads in just 3 weeks, the Meta AI assistant known as Muse is officially a hit. However, knowing Meta's track record with privacy and safety, there is naturally concern over Muse and how it handles user data and privacy.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Meta wants everyone to use Muse, its AI agent. But the company first needs to prove itself worthy of such trust. Two people can keep a secret if one is dead, or so goes the saying. But what happens when you share the details of your life with an AI agent?

Millions have downloaded Meta's AI agent Muse. But getting it to do your bidding comes with privacy costs. Meta's new personal assistant, Muse, has become a viral hit, with millions downloading the AI agent, connecting it to bank accounts, messages, or health data, and allowing it to complete tasks for them. But as Muse takes off among consumers, data from inside the app is providing insight into how it organizes and presents information to users. In recent days, multiple researchers have extracted Muse's internal files and dumped the agent's operating instructions, providing a glimpse of how the system was built and behaves. Meta has maintained that it intended for these files to be accessible in the interest of transparency, and they do provide insight into how Muse responds to prompts and questions about, for example, highly politicized or sensitive topics.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset . Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions . Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by LSEG . An AI-generated influencer entered Alabama'RushTok' -- Some fans didn't care that she was fake Make unknown callers explain why they're calling Is your personal data changing what you pay online? Apple's $250M Siri settlement: How to claim up to $95 The next connected device could be the shirt you're wearing'Steamrolled': Congressman warns local backlash could derail national security push She created a Bama rush influencer out of nothing. Citadel CEO: We've lost the narrative on data centers This will be'such a gift' to humankind: Charles Payne Andrew Bailey blasts FBI exit'lies' and reveals why he's leaving the bureau Meta's Muse AI assistant raises major cybersecurity and privacy concerns With over 3 million downloads for canceling unwanted subscriptions, Meta's Muse AI assistant is raising security alarms. Liz Peek warns that users must grant the AI access to personal bank accounts, credit cards, emails, and texts to make it effective.

Say More Look Up Top creators, ranked Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Creator Playbook Mashable Selects In My Bag AI at School Safety Net Versus Trending Now All Series Updates to Full Disk Access are coming to your Mac. Matt Binder joined Mashable's tech vertical in 2018, where he covers social media, tech policy, cybersecurity, online scams, cryptocurrency, AI, creator news, weird tech, and other related tech beats. Apple is going to roll out update to Full Disk Access as a result of AI agents. Apple has just been forced to respond to the flurry of AI agent apps, like Meta's Muse, which are accessing Mac users' private data. According to Apple, the company will soon release additional controls to Full Disk Access, which will explicitly ask Mac users if they'd like to grant a third-party access to a specific part of their system.

Apple is adding new safeguards to how "Full Disk Access" works in macOS to address the growing risk posed by AI agents. In an update, the company warned that the increasingly popular tools "could put users at risk," and that it would add "additional controls" to the process to ensure users are aware of what they're doing when they grant software such "extraordinary" access. The company didn't say when the update would roll out or what exactly would change from the current setup. But in its note, the Cupertino company implied that some developers of AI agents are not being upfront with users about the privacy tradeoffs that come with using their software. "Some developers are using Full Disk Access in ways that could put users at risk, exposing everything on their systems--including files, mail, messages, and even browsing history--without users' full knowledge and understanding," the company said.

Say More Look Up Top creators, ranked Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Creator Playbook Mashable Selects In My Bag AI at School Safety Net Versus Trending Now All Series Meta's Muse AI passes 5 million downloads, breaking records The AI assistant from Meta did it faster than ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok. Matt Binder joined Mashable's tech vertical in 2018, where he covers social media, tech policy, cybersecurity, online scams, cryptocurrency, AI, creator news, weird tech, and other related tech beats. Meta's Muse AI assistant is sitting at the top of the App Store after receiving millions of downloads. Meta has a hit on its hands: its Muse AI assistant has proven extremely popular. Less than a month after Meta released Muse, the AI assistant has already surpassed 5 million downloads.

You're not imagining it, the AI agents are getting alarmingly cute. First, there was Meta's Muse, whose mascot is a fuzzy egg-shaped creature called Jolly. Now, OpenAI has unveiled its own muppet-like personal agents, Dots. Both companies are encouraging users to treat their agent like a digital pet, with distinct names and appearances. Given the current rhetoric around AI safety and the public's general suspicion of the industry, it's not surprising that companies would want to make its agents look cute and non-threatening.

Did Muse read private texts without permission? No one should be surprised that an AI Agent is reading their messages, regardless of what they clicked. Olivia Tauber is the deputy editor of digital culture, covering creators, media, movies, beauty, and more. Based in New York, her work has appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The Cut, Teen Vogue, Complex, and Interview Magazine. She holds a Master's degree in Journalism from NYU and a Bachelor's from the University of Michigan.

OpenAI's Dots and Meta's Muse are vying to be your AI agent of choice. I've tried both--and I suspect you will too. Yesterday, I spent the morning at OpenAI's annual DevDay, where over 2,500 nerds discussed building software and marveled at the latest artificial intelligence models. The biggest reveal of the day was Dots, the company's new, always-on agents that proactively help complete tasks and make autonomous decisions as they scour the web. After watching the sometimes messy demos on stage and hearing CEO Sam Altman talk about his experiences using the agents, I was curious what it felt like to boss my own Dot around.