Apple said Friday it will add clearer warnings and extra controls on Macs when AI agents request broad access to a user’s files, a change that follows complaints about Meta’s Muse agent and private messages, Reuters’ Stephen Nellis reports.
On iPhones and iPads, apps are sandboxed by default and cannot read data inside other apps. Macs are more open: a “Full Disk Access” setting lets programs such as backup tools see everything on the machine if the user agrees. Apple said some developers have used that permission in ways that could put people at risk, and that the danger will grow as AI agents become more capable and autonomous.
“Going forward, we will introduce additional controls to ensure that users who genuinely wish to grant an app this extraordinary level of access can only do so with very explicit user action,” Apple wrote in a developer post, according to Reuters’ Stephen Nellis. The company said it wants people to understand those risks before they hand over that level of access.
The move follows a column by Inc magazine’s Jason Aten, who said Meta’s Muse — an agent meant to handle tasks such as canceling unused subscriptions or negotiating better prices — had read private messages on his Mac even though he believed he had not turned on Full Disk Access. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone disputed that account, writing on X that Muse can read Apple Messages content only if a user enables both Full Disk Access and a Messages connector, and that the permission can be revoked at any time.
MacDailyNews Take: Meta Platforms is not to be trusted. Anyone who grants Full Disk Access on their Mac to Meta Platforms, of all companies, deserves whatever privacy or security disasters befall them.
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This kind of interaction and “fortification” will be constant as agents develop and as humans embrace. Just imaging Meta, MS, Sam/Amodei’s crew constantly pressing the boundaries of one’s sovereignty is unnerving.
May AAPL’s security builds be its clear innovations
And yet Apple thought it would be acceptable to release an OS that sucked up tens of gigabytes of disk space for AI without the users’ explicit approval. This is not the user-friendly approach that we expect.
AI needs to be optional. If it isn’t, then Apple becomes optional in this household.