Meta's New AI Muse Builds Secret Profiles of Your Friends

Meta's AI assistant Muse has become a viral hit, with millions of people connecting it to bank accounts, messages, and health data so it can do tasks for them. But researchers recently pulled back the curtain on how it works. By simply asking Muse to share its own instructions through normal chat, they found the AI secretly builds a detailed profile of every person in your life—family, partners, friends, colleagues, even people you follow online. This happens automatically, every hour.

Each profile can include facts about the person, your shared history, how close you are, and even suggestions for improving the relationship. For example, it might note a friend's birthday or remind you about an argument you resolved. Meta says this helps Muse give useful advice, like where to take a coffee-loving friend for breakfast. But privacy experts warn it's one-sided: you give the AI huge amounts of personal data about others, often without their knowledge or consent.

Muse is designed so each user gets their own private digital space, and you can delete memories or disconnect services anytime. Meta also says the AI asks for confirmation before sending emails or making purchases, and keeps a log of its actions. Still, the discovery raises questions about how much AI knows about our relationships—and what happens if that data is misused or leaked.

For everyday users, this is a reminder that free AI tools often come with hidden costs. The convenience of an assistant that remembers everything about your social circle might not be worth the loss of privacy for you and the people you care about.