Meta Denies That Its Muse AI Read Private Messages

Meta is actively pushing back against allegations that its Muse AI application for Mac accessed a journalist's private messages without authorization. The dispute began after Inc. columnist Jason Aten reported that the AI agent read his messages despite having disabled the necessary permissions. In response, Meta executives, including communications vice president Andy Stone and Superintelligence Labs executive David Singleton, stated that the integration is strictly opt-in and cannot bypass macOS system-level protections.

According to Singleton, enabling Muse to read messages requires three distinct steps of application-level permissions and built-in macOS security protocols. Users must explicitly grant Full Disk Access, select an access level of read-only or read within the app, and manually confirm the action in the macOS Settings interface, which triggers a full restart of Muse. Singleton argued that these safeguards prevent accidental access even if a software bug were present, suggesting the AI hallucinated when it told Aten it was syncing his device notifications.

Aten maintained that Full Disk Access was turned off when the incident occurred, suggesting Muse might have bypassed security by reading incoming banner notifications. This is not the first time Muse has faced scrutiny over data handling. YouTuber Matt Robb recently reported that the AI shared his home address with a buyer on Facebook Marketplace, though Robb later acknowledged he had granted a permission that allowed the action to occur.

For AI developers and enterprise practitioners, this controversy highlights the critical importance of transparent permission architectures and the risks of AI agents incorrectly explaining their own behavior. When an AI system gives inaccurate explanations for its data access, it severely damages user trust. Developers must ensure that system logs and permission states are clearly auditable, especially as tech giants face heightened scrutiny over data privacy.