10:16Machine-translated from Azerbaijani by AIRead in Azerbaijani
Meta’s Muse AI Assistant Builds Profiles of Family and Friends
“Meta”’s new personal artificial intelligence (AI) assistant, “Muse,” has quickly gained popularity and been downloaded millions of times. Users can connect it to their bank accounts, messages, and health information. Internal instructions show that the system creates detailed profiles of the user’s friends and family members. “Meta” said it stores these files in a format that anyone can view for transparency.
Independent AI safety researcher Karan Joshi asked “Muse” in an ordinary chat window to copy and share its program files. According to the instructions obtained, the system must create a separate page for each person in the user’s life. A process that runs once an hour collects information about family members, partners, friends, colleagues, and people the user follows. These pages may initially be created with little information and later expanded with new facts and events. The system remembers where people live, what they do, shared plans, birthdays, and anniversaries. Trips and resolved disputes may also be recorded. “Muse” can also assess how close the relationship is and what that person currently needs. The instructions require it to rely only on available evidence and not make anything up when no information is available. The collected information can be used to develop advice for improving relationships. The assistant may advise the user to call someone, remember an important date, or revisit a topic mentioned in an earlier conversation. Privacy experts consider it risky that the system does not limit itself to explicitly stated information and may draw correct or incorrect conclusions from other details. In their view, users give such assistants more information than they receive in return. Within “Muse,” each user is assigned a separate virtual machine, meaning a software environment isolated from other systems. According to “Meta,” other users and assistants cannot access the information in that environment. Users can delete the assistant’s memory, disconnect external services they have linked, and view all activity logs. The system must ask for the user’s approval before taking actions such as sending an email or making a purchase. “Meta” says profile information is collected from public sources and details voluntarily shared by the user. According to the company’s explanation, this type of memory is needed to recall who a previously hired repair professional was or what flowers a spouse likes. Nevertheless, experts emphasize that the assistant called “Muse” focuses more on personal relationships than its competitors do. Broad access to emails, calendars, and financial accounts could significantly increase the amount of information companies collect about users.
Independent AI safety researcher Karan Joshi asked “Muse” in an ordinary chat window to copy and share its program files. According to the instructions obtained, the system must create a separate page for each person in the user’s life. A process that runs once an hour collects information about family members, partners, friends, colleagues, and people the user follows. These pages may initially be created with little information and later expanded with new facts and events. The system remembers where people live, what they do, shared plans, birthdays, and anniversaries. Trips and resolved disputes may also be recorded. “Muse” can also assess how close the relationship is and what that person currently needs. The instructions require it to rely only on available evidence and not make anything up when no information is available. The collected information can be used to develop advice for improving relationships. The assistant may advise the user to call someone, remember an important date, or revisit a topic mentioned in an earlier conversation. Privacy experts consider it risky that the system does not limit itself to explicitly stated information and may draw correct or incorrect conclusions from other details. In their view, users give such assistants more information than they receive in return. Within “Muse,” each user is assigned a separate virtual machine, meaning a software environment isolated from other systems. According to “Meta,” other users and assistants cannot access the information in that environment. Users can delete the assistant’s memory, disconnect external services they have linked, and view all activity logs. The system must ask for the user’s approval before taking actions such as sending an email or making a purchase. “Meta” says profile information is collected from public sources and details voluntarily shared by the user. According to the company’s explanation, this type of memory is needed to recall who a previously hired repair professional was or what flowers a spouse likes. Nevertheless, experts emphasize that the assistant called “Muse” focuses more on personal relationships than its competitors do. Broad access to emails, calendars, and financial accounts could significantly increase the amount of information companies collect about users.