🔍 Read the full analysis: A Question Of Message Access: Meta’s AI Agent And Muse on ThorstenMeyerAI.com
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TL;DR
Meta’s personal AI agent, Muse, can access connected accounts and messages when its user grants access or when accounts are linked through Accounts Center. WIRED and TIME reported that Muse’s instructions tell it to maintain regularly updated pages about people mentioned in users’ communications; Meta did not dispute the findings and says each user controls the agent’s access. The reports leave open how non-users can limit information about themselves and how completely Muse can forget data, a concern explored in the fine line between AI agent help and too much access.
Meta announced its Muse personal AI agent for Singapore on October 27, extending the service beyond North America and Japan as reports raised questions about the people whose messages it can access. Meta’s help pages describe connections to services including email, calendars and Meta apps; reporting by WIRED and TIME says Muse’s instructions direct it to keep profiles of people mentioned in a user’s communications, including people who never signed up.
Muse is an AI agent that runs on a cloud-based computer Meta calls a Muse Secure VM. The company says users can ask it to perform tasks such as answering email, making reservations and shopping, though Meta’s AI agent has been blocked from using Amazon.com. Meta launched Muse in the United States on September 8, expanded it to Japan on October 23, and announced Singapore on October 27. TIME reported that downloads passed 5 million within weeks; that figure is TIME’s reporting, not a number independently established in the supplied material.
Access depends in part on connectors, which link Muse with other services, a key consideration for always-on local agent workflows. Meta’s help pages say email access lets Muse search messages but does not download an entire inbox unless the user asks. Calendar connectors can send updates proactively. Facebook, Instagram and Threads accounts may connect automatically when they share an Accounts Center with Muse. Meta Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang said the Instagram connector includes direct messages and named Messenger as a connector, though the company’s help pages do not detail what those connections read. Mac Messages access requires users to grant macOS Full Disk Access and switch on the connector.
Separate reports describe another kind of information use. WIRED reported on instructions that tell Muse to create a page for each person in a user’s life; TIME later reported that the agent updates profiles hourly using people named in chats, messages and emails. TIME said the profiles can cover relationships, shared interests, disputes and group dynamics. Meta did not dispute the findings. The company says users control how much access their Muse receives, but that control belongs to the account holder, not necessarily to other people whose messages are included.
Infographic 01 · What Muse can read
Muse reads what its user can read. That includes you.
Connectors decide what the agent sees. The user switches them on. The people in that user’s chats and inbox are never asked.
Sources a Muse user can open to the agent
The agent reads what its user can read. Everyone who writes to that user is inside.
| Source | How it connects | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Email (Gmail, Outlook) | Opt-in connector. Searches when a task needs it; downloads the whole inbox only if told to. | Meta document |
| Calendar | Opt-in connector. Can push changes to Muse on its own (“proactive”). | Meta document |
| Facebook, Instagram, Threads | Connected automatically if the accounts share an Accounts Center with Muse. | Meta document |
| Instagram DMs, Messenger | Named as Muse-only connectors (“Instagram (incl dm’s) … and Messenger”). What they read is not documented. | executive post |
| Mac Messages (iMessage) | Only with macOS Full Disk Access plus the Messages connector, Meta says. One columnist says it synced anyway. | disputed case |
| A place to chat with Muse, not a connector. Test-build text mentions Muse access to end-to-end encrypted chats. | leaked code | |
| Custom connectors | Muse can build links to other services. Meta does not review them. | Meta document |
What the instructions say
Extracted by researchers; reported by WIRED and TIME reported
- “A page for every person in the user’s life”: family, partners, friends, colleagues, people followed
- Notes on how people met, shared interests, disputes, “tensions and alliances”
- People who never signed up are mapped by other users’ agents
- De-identified “lessons” shared across agents; Meta did not dispute TIME’s findings
What Meta says
Privacy policy, help pages, spokespeople Meta document
- Each user’s VM is isolated; no other user’s agent can reach it
- Conversations and VM data are not shared with Meta’s ad systems
- “Each person stays in control of their Muse and decides how much access it gets”
- Forgetting works “to the best of its ability”; deleted data may still be remembered
Sources: Meta Help Center: Connectors; Muse Privacy Policy; Alexandr Wang on X (8 Sep 2026); TIME (6 Oct 2026); Tom’s Guide on WIRED’s report (6 Oct 2026); TechCrunch (30 Sep 2026); Digit (16 Oct 2026). Status labels: Meta document = stated by Meta; executive post = Meta executive on X, not in help pages; disputed = claim and denial on record; leaked = unreleased code, may never ship.
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Privacy Beyond the Account Holder
The issue extends beyond the privacy choices of someone who downloads Muse. If an account holder connects a messaging service, information in conversations may include people who never installed the agent. Their names, relationships and messages could be used to build contextual records, according to the reporting. The supplied material does not establish that every message is continuously ingested or that every person mentioned receives a profile; the scope depends on access and the agent’s instructions.
That distinction matters for families, workplaces and group chats, where one person’s decision to use an assistant can affect others. Meta’s stated controls let users manage their own connections and memories, while non-users have fewer direct options. The company’s help material also says Muse may retain information it learned even after a user deletes the original item. For readers, the practical question is not only what an agent can read, but who can control what it remembers.
The business context adds another reason to watch the rollout, though it does not establish a direct cause or privacy outcome. The source reports Meta sold $25 billion in stock at $625 a share and $12.5 billion in preferred stock, with Nvidia investing $3 billion as the companies expand work connected to Muse. Meta’s infrastructure and commercial plans may shape the agent’s reach; the investment figures alone do not show how data will be handled.
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How Muse Gets Connected
Meta describes Muse as an assistant users can access through its app, on a Mac, or in WhatsApp. In WhatsApp, the source says, Muse is a separate chat a user opens, rather than an agent that automatically reads all other WhatsApp conversations. That distinction should not be confused with connected Instagram or Messenger accounts, whose documented scope is less clear in the supplied help-page descriptions.
Meta says each user receives a private virtual computer that other users’ agents cannot access. The privacy policy, as summarized in the source, lists messages, connector data and “information about you or others” among information Meta may collect. The source also says users can disconnect connectors, switch off model training, edit a memory file or reset Muse. These are controls for a Muse user; they do not amount to a direct opt-out for everyone mentioned in that user’s communications.
The reporting arrived shortly after Muse’s US launch. WIRED published its account of the agent’s instructions on October 3, based on files a security researcher obtained by asking Muse in chat; TIME reviewed instructions separately three days later. The source says its account of WIRED’s findings relied partly on other publications because WIRED’s report is paywalled.
“Instagram (incl dm’s), Threads, Facebook (incl marketplace), and Messenger.”
— Meta Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang, in a post on X
What Non-Users Can Control
Several details remain unresolved. Meta’s public help pages, as described in the source, do not fully specify what Instagram DM and Messenger connectors access, how often they retrieve content, or how long information about people other than the account holder is retained. Meta did not dispute the reported instructions, but the supplied material does not include a detailed company explanation of how those instructions operate in practice or whether every profile is created and refreshed as described.
Deletion is also not the same as confirmed erasure. Meta’s guidance reportedly says Muse may still remember information it learned after a user deletes the source material and that it forgets “to the best of its ability.” The source says TIME reported that Muse is instructed not to point out that original messages may remain visible. The precise conditions, technical limits and retention periods are not stated here. Nor does the material establish what redress, if any, a non-user has when an agent has summarized their communications.
The source mentions WhatsApp’s Advanced Chat Privacy as one way a non-user may limit what sits in another person’s archive. It does not provide enough detail to establish how broadly that setting applies or whether it prevents every form of copying or summarizing. Users and non-users should not treat it as a guarantee that information already accessed by an agent has been removed.
Details Needed From Meta
The immediate next developments are likely to come through Muse’s rollout and further clarification from Meta. Readers should watch for updated help pages specifying what each connector can access, whether linked accounts share data automatically, how profiles of third parties are generated, and how long the information remains available. Meta’s Singapore announcement does not, by itself, answer those privacy questions.
For current users, Meta’s documented controls include disconnecting connectors, changing model-training settings, editing the memory file and resetting Muse. Those steps can reduce or alter information available to the user’s agent, but the supplied material does not say that they erase all inferences already made about other people. For people who do not use Muse, the practical limits of available app-level privacy settings remain an open issue.
Key Questions
Does Muse automatically read every WhatsApp conversation?
The source says Muse appears in WhatsApp as a separate chat that the user opens, not as a reader of all other chats. That does not establish how other connected services handle messages, and Meta’s connector documentation is not fully detailed in the supplied material.
Can Muse access Instagram direct messages?
Meta Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang said the Instagram connector includes direct messages. Meta’s help pages, as described in the source, do not specify the full scope or frequency of access.
Can people who do not use Muse be included in its records?
WIRED and TIME reported that Muse’s instructions call for pages about people mentioned in a user’s communications. Meta did not dispute the findings. The reports concern the agent’s instructions; the supplied material does not establish that every person mentioned receives a profile.
Does deleting a message make Muse forget it?
Not necessarily. Meta’s guidance reportedly says Muse may still remember information learned from deleted material and forgets it “to the best of its ability.” The exact retention process and limits are unclear.
What can a Muse user do to limit access?
Meta’s listed controls include disconnecting connectors, turning off model training, editing the memory file and resetting Muse. These controls are for the account holder; the source says non-users have fewer direct ways to limit information in another person’s archive.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
