Meta's New Muse AI Assistant Quietly Knows More About You Than You Do

Key points

• Meta launched Muse, its first AI agent built for personal productivity tasks such as email management and online shopping.
• A reviewer found Muse could list highly specific personal interests, including favourite dog breeds and TV-era nostalgia, by reading Instagram account data through a background programming interface not visible inside the app.
• Muse correctly identified the reviewer's physical location by reading the shipping address stored on their linked Amazon account.
• Meta says Muse only exchanges data with third-party apps as needed and does not share user information with advertisers, though the company did not respond to questions about the depth of Instagram data the tool can access.
• Muse generated realistic-looking fake Apple product images but refused to produce a portrait of Apple's CEO, raising uneven content-moderation questions.

Meta has launched Muse, an AI agent (software that can carry out multi-step tasks on its own, rather than simply answering questions) designed to handle everyday chores: clearing your email inbox, shopping on Amazon, planning trips, generating podcast-style audio summaries, and building simple webpages.

The early reviews are mixed. Muse largely does what it promises. The part that unsettles people is what it quietly picks up along the way.

What can Muse actually do?

For low-stakes tasks, it works. A reviewer for The Verge linked a Gmail account and asked Muse to delete unwanted promotional emails. After some initial glitches on mobile, it cleared thousands of messages on a laptop without incident.

Shopping went smoothly too. When asked to find workout tops in specific sizes and colours from Amazon, Muse noticed other items sitting in the cart and politely asked whether to remove them before checking out. It then completed the purchase correctly. Small gestures like that build trust.

Muse can also generate AI podcasts similar to Google's Notebook LM feature, produce images and short videos, and create what the app calls "artifacts," which are simple interactive documents or webpages.

What did it reveal about the reviewer?

This is where the story gets uncomfortable. Muse includes a "Feed" tab that builds a personalised news summary. The reviewer used Meta's own default prompt, asking for a feed based on their interests. Muse returned news stories from the specific state where the reviewer was visiting family.

When asked how it knew their location, Muse explained it had read the shipping address attached to their Amazon order.

The reviewer then asked Muse directly what it knew about them from their linked Instagram and Facebook accounts. Muse listed highly specific interests: anime, CrossFit, Labrador retrievers, Florida wildlife, nostalgia for the 1990s and 2000s. The reviewer had never shared that list with any app.

Asked where the data came from, Muse explained it read the information through Instagram's API, a background channel that developers use to request data from a platform's servers. That channel surfaced more personal detail than the Instagram app itself ever shows a user. Meta had not responded to questions about this by the time of publication.

Should users be worried?

Not necessarily panicked, but eyes open. Meta says Muse only pulls data needed for a task and does not pass your information to advertisers. Those are meaningful commitments, though the company's privacy history gives reasonable people pause.

The practical concern is straightforward. Connecting an AI agent to your email, your shopping account, and your social profiles in one place creates a large window into your life. Before linking accounts, it is worth checking which permissions each connection actually requests.

Muse is available now inside the Meta AI app.

Common questions

Can I see what data Muse has collected about me?

Muse itself will tell you if you ask directly, though it pulls from background data channels you cannot browse inside Instagram or Facebook. The closest visible equivalent is the "Ad topics" list in your Instagram settings, but reviewers found Muse knew significantly more than that list shows.

Does Meta share what Muse learns with advertisers?

Meta says no. The company states Muse only exchanges data with third-party apps as required for a specific task, and that advertiser data-sharing is separate. Independent verification of that claim is not yet possible.

Is Muse available to everyone?

Meta has released Muse as part of the Meta AI app, though availability by region is still rolling out. Check the Meta AI app on your phone to see whether the agent features are active for your account.