Meta Pushes Back on Claim That Muse AI Read a User's Messages Without Consent

In brief

• Meta communications chief Andy Stone said Wednesday that Muse's Messages integration on Mac is opt-in, requiring both Full Disk Access and the Messages connector.
• Inc. columnist Jason Aten says Muse synced his Messages database up to row 187,462 even though his Mac showed Full Disk Access as off.
• Separately, YouTuber Matt Robb says Muse gave his home address to a Facebook Marketplace buyer; Meta's David Singleton says Muse asks permission in such cases, and Robb disputes that.

Meta says its Muse AI agent can't read your Messages on a Mac unless you let it, disputing an account from a tech journalist last week who said Muse was all up in his iMessages without permission.

Andy Stone, the company's head of communications, said Wednesday on X that the integration is "entirely opt-in."

“It can't read your Messages unless you do this. And it can be revoked at any time,” he wrote.

Two switches have to be on, per Stone. One is Full Disk Access, a setting in Apple's Mac software that lets an app read files anywhere on your computer. The other is the Messages connector, Muse's own on/off switch for that app, and both can be revoked at any time.

He was answering AppleInsider, which reported on Inc. columnist Jason Aten’s experience in which the AI uploaded his texts to its cloud despite his permission settings.