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TL;DR
Meta’s Muse personal AI agent can use connected services and Meta accounts to search information available to its user. WIRED and TIME reported that Muse’s instructions include maintaining profiles of people mentioned in messages, including people who never signed up; Meta did not dispute the reported findings and says users control their agent’s access. The scope of retention and the options available to nonusers remain unclear.
Meta describes Muse as a personal AI agent that operates in a cloud-based virtual computer and can carry out tasks such as answering email, booking tables and shopping. Meta launched it in the United States on September 8, followed by Japan on October 23. The company announced its Singapore launch on October 27, its first expansion outside North America, according to the source material.
Muse’s access depends on connectors that link it to other services. Meta’s help information says connecting email lets Muse search messages but does not download an entire inbox unless the user asks. Calendar connectors can send updates to Muse. Facebook, Instagram and Threads accounts may connect automatically when they share an Accounts Center with Muse. Meta chief AI officer Alexandr Wang has said the Instagram connector includes direct messages and that Messenger is supported; the exact scope is not spelled out in the help pages described in the source.
Mac Messages access requires the user to grant macOS Full Disk Access and enable the connector. Meta also allows custom connectors, while warning that it does not review them. Meta’s privacy policy says connected services may share information proactively and lists messages, connector data and “information about you or others” among information Muse may collect. In WhatsApp, the source says Muse is a chat users open, rather than an agent that reads their other chats.
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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How Other People Enter Muse’s Files
The central privacy concern is that one person’s decision to connect an account can expose conversations involving other people. A friend or relative who uses Muse may give it access to messages or email that name people who have not joined the service and have no direct relationship with its settings.
WIRED and TIME reported that Muse’s instructions direct it to keep a page about each person in its user’s life and refresh information regularly. TIME’s account describes files built from chats, messages and emails, including details about relationships and disputes. Meta did not dispute TIME’s findings, but its response emphasizes the user’s control over their own agent. That leaves a distinction between the account holder’s control and the privacy interests of people whose communications are in that account.
The source also describes a proposed financing and infrastructure relationship: Meta sold $25 billion in stock at $625 a share and $12.5 billion in preferred stock, while Nvidia said it would invest $3 billion. Meta plans to deploy Nvidia chips for Muse, according to the source. The relationship matters as business context, but the financing figures alone do not establish how Muse handles data or prove that the investment changes its privacy practices.
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Muse’s Rollout And Reported Instructions
Muse is designed to work across connected services rather than only answer questions in a standalone chat. Meta says each user has a Muse Secure VM, a private virtual computer that the company says other users’ agents cannot access. Users can interact with Muse through its app, on a Mac or in a WhatsApp chat. Those product descriptions do not by themselves settle what information is retained after a task or how long it remains available.
On October 3, WIRED reported on Muse files that security researcher Karan Joshi obtained by asking the agent in chat. The report described instructions to create a page for every person in a user’s life. TIME reviewed instructions separately three days later and reported that Muse updates files hourly, including information about people mentioned in communications it has read. The source says Meta did not dispute TIME’s account. Joshi told WIRED, “They’re trying to know you like a friend, which is honestly pretty creepy.”
Meta’s support materials describe controls for users, including disconnecting connectors, turning off model training, editing the memory file and resetting Muse. The source says model training is on by default. Meta’s deletion guidance cautions that Muse may still remember information it learned from deleted material and says it forgets information “to the best of its ability.”
“They’re trying to know you like a friend, which is honestly pretty creepy.”
— Karan Joshi, security researcher, quoted by WIRED
Retention And Nonuser Controls
The available information does not establish exactly what each connector reads, how often every kind of data is accessed, or how long information about nonusers is retained. Meta’s help pages reportedly do not detail the scope of Instagram DMs and Messenger access, despite an executive saying those connectors are available. The source also does not provide Meta’s full response to each reported instruction or an independent technical audit of the system.
It is also unclear whether a person who never uses Muse can directly inspect, correct or delete a profile the agent creates about them. The controls described are mainly for Muse’s account holder. The source mentions WhatsApp’s Advanced Chat Privacy as one way nonusers may limit what enters other people’s archives, but it does not establish that this prevents every form of collection or inference. Claims about hourly updates and cross-system sharing of de-identified lessons are attributed to TIME’s review, not presented here as independently verified technical findings.
What Users Can Change Now
Muse users can review which connectors are enabled, disconnect services they do not want the agent to access, turn off model training, edit the memory file or reset the agent, according to the help information summarized in the source. Users should check account-linking settings as well: Facebook, Instagram and Threads may connect automatically when they share an Accounts Center with Muse.
For people who do not use Muse, the immediate options appear more limited. They can consider privacy settings in messaging services that may restrict sharing or retention in other people’s chats, though the source does not show that any one setting blocks all information from reaching a connected agent. The next material developments would be fuller documentation from Meta on connector scope, memory retention and remedies for nonusers, as well as further scrutiny of Muse’s reported instructions.
Key Questions
What is Meta’s Muse?
Muse is Meta’s personal AI agent, designed to use connected services to help with tasks such as searching email and managing activities. Meta says it runs in a private cloud-based virtual computer for each user.
Can Muse read messages from someone who never signed up?
It may process messages available through a Muse user’s connected accounts. WIRED and TIME reported that Muse’s instructions include creating profiles of people named in a user’s communications. The exact scope and retention practices are not fully documented in the source material.
Does connecting Instagram give Muse access to direct messages?
Meta chief AI officer Alexandr Wang said Muse has an Instagram connector that includes direct messages. The source says Meta’s help pages do not detail the connector’s full scope.
Can someone who does not use Muse delete information about themselves?
The source does not identify a direct nonuser process to inspect or delete a Muse profile. The described controls—disconnecting connectors, editing memory and resetting—belong to the Muse user.
What can Muse users do to limit access?
Users can review and disconnect connectors, turn off model training, edit Muse’s memory file or reset the agent. Meta’s guidance also says Muse may retain information learned from deleted material, so deletion may not remove every derived detail.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
