Meta's Muse AI Agent Creates Detailed Files on Everyone in Your Life, Researchers Reveal

Meta's Muse Compiles Extensive Relationship Data

Meta's Muse AI agent is building detailed, regularly updated profiles on every person in users' lives, according to findings from independent AI safety and security researcher Karan Joshi1

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. Nearly a month after its September 8 launch, researchers discovered that the AI personal assistant runs an hourly background process specifically designed to create and maintain "a page for every person in the user's life"1

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. With over 5 million downloads in just 3 weeks and climbing to the number-one spot on Apple's U.S. App Store chart for free iPhone apps, Meta's Muse is raising significant privacy concerns about its data collection practices1

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Researchers Extract System Prompts Revealing Data Practices

Joshi extracted system prompts and internal instructions through Muse's regular chat interface, revealing the AI agent will openly share how it operates when users ask1

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. Separately, The Future Society published system instructions from an exported copy of a Muse virtual machine, corroborating the findings1

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. These system prompts function as rules dictating how the AI chatbot behaves and processes information2

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. "What it seemed like to me -- from all these prompts, system skills data, and things that they're feeding into Muse -- is that they want to understand your relationships that you have with real people," Joshi told Wired. "They're trying to know you like a friend, which is honestly pretty creepy"1

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Understanding User Relationships Through Detailed User Profiles

The relationship pages created by Meta's Muse include extensive information: a person's name, their connection to the user, recurring topics like apartment moves or savings goals, and important dates such as birthdays and anniversaries1

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. Muse compiles data from messages, photos, and memories of previous interactions to build these detailed user profiles2

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. The AI agent also tracks relationship history including events and milestones, how close the user is to each person, what their relationship is built on, how they interact, and what the relationship appears to need at the moment1

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. Each page includes instructions on how to communicate with individuals and keeps tabs on what users owe or have promised them previously2

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. Muse reportedly compiles information on family, friends, partners, colleagues, "collaborators," and other people users follow online2

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Security Concerns Mount Alongside Privacy Issues

Beyond privacy concerns, security concerns have emerged almost immediately after launch. Amazon blocked Muse from shopping on its site in September, citing that Meta had not notified the company in advance and raising concerns about how Muse handles customer credentials and account data1

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. Meta recently patched a zero-day vulnerability in the Mac version of Muse that could allow malware already running on a user's computer to hijack the agent and exploit permissions the user had granted it1

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. Apple recently announced changes to how it handles Full Disk Access as a result of AI agents like Muse, as Mac users may not realize exactly what permissions they're providing to these third-party tools and the associated cybersecurity risks2

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Meta Defends Data Collection as Necessary for Functionality

"For any agent to be useful and actually help you achieve your goals, it needs to have context about you and those you interact with," Meta spokesperson Daniel Roberts stated1

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. Meta claims Muse gathers information based on public information and from what users have chosen to share, explaining how it remembers details like "the person who just sent you an invoice is in fact the plumber who you previously hired to complete some work in your bathroom or which flowers your spouse said they liked best"1

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. The company emphasizes that information is stored in each user's dedicated secure virtual machines, which Meta says cannot be accessed by other users' agents1

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. However, the revelations about files on everyone you love have intensified scrutiny of Meta's approach to AI development, particularly given the company's track record with privacy and safety2

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