Ex-Meta exec criticizes Muse AI privacy
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The gist
Former Meta security chief Alex Stamos said giving AI agents like Muse your financial logins is "totally insane."
Banks and retailers are blocking these agents, putting users' data access at the crux.
Background
Alex Stamos is Meta's former security chief and now chief security officer at Cognition, an AI coding startup. Meta launched Muse, its consumer AI agent that runs on its own computer in the cloud, in September 2026 and encouraged users to hand it email logins and credit card details. Stamos' remarks, made on the Big Technology Podcast, come as banks and retailers move to block outside AI agents over safety and liability concerns.
How it unfolded
- Sep 2026Meta launched Muse, its consumer AI agent that runs on its own computer in the cloud.
- Sep 2026Amazon blocked Muse from its online store, saying the access would violate the conditions of use its customers agreed to.
- Sep 2026Security researchers found vulnerabilities that could give hackers access to sensitive personal data, and Meta bolstered its Muse safety warning, per The Information.
- Oct 2026Researchers identified other ways attackers can expose sensitive information when users share message exchanges through web links, per Ars Technica.
- Oct 2026JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, on the bank's earnings call, spoke of a "liability transfer" away from the bank when customers let outside agents in.
- Nov 1, 2026CNBC reported JPMorgan Chase, Charles Schwab, Amazon, Neiman Marcus and Kohl's have moved to block personal agents like Meta Muse.
- Nov 2, 2026Business Insider reported Stamos' remarks on the Big Technology Podcast calling it "totally insane" to give AI agents access to sensitive personal data.
- Nov 4, 2026Futurism and TNW reported Stamos' criticism of Muse's privacy risk.
Key terms
- AI agent
- A software entity that perceives its environment and acts autonomously to achieve goals, often improving through learning.
- virtual machine
- A software emulation of a computer system that provides the functionality of a physical computer in an isolated environment.
Source: Wikipedia
Who’s saying what
- Caution
- Stamos said it is "totally insane" to give AI agents access to sensitive data like entire 1Password vaults, and described a "crazy tension" between banks trying to prevent automated access and consumers handing logins to a company that's existed for six months.
- Official
- Meta maintains Muse is safe because it runs on a virtual machine "isolated so no one else's agent can access it," while admitting "no automated system is perfect" and advising users to review Muse's activity and only grant access they're comfortable with.
- Caution
- JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon spoke of a "liability transfer" away from the bank when customers let outside agents in, saying "If people are using them, they should understand the risk."
- Official
- Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told investors not to worry about bots invading its online store, saying more than 400 million customers used Alexa for shopping in the last year.
Still unverified
Billions Network's analysis of 51 large U.S. retailers' published access rules comes with the caveat that those rules are not proof of technical enforcement.