Meta’s former security chief Alex Stamos says giving Muse AI your passwords and finances is “totally insane”

The former security chief of Meta is warning people about the access they might be giving the company’s Muse AI agent without considering the consequences.

Alex Stamos, appearing on an episode of the “Big Technology Podcast” on Oct. 23, said it was “totally insane” that people are giving AI agent apps, including Muse, access to personal data such as their finances and other sensitive information.

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Of particular concern to Stamos was AI gaining access to people’s password vaults, which gives it broad access to all corners of their lives.

“People using agents and then being like, ‘Hey, … Muse, here’s my entire 1Password. Go handle my finances for me. Go file my taxes’ is totally insane,” said Stamos.

Meta did not immediately reply to a Moneywise request for comment about Stamos’ statements, but on its website, the company said it believed Muse to be safe, since it runs on a virtual machine that Meta said is “isolated so no one else’s agent can access it.”

However, the company added, “no automated system is perfect,” so users should “review Muse’s activity and only grant the access you’re comfortable with.”

The problem for banks

Stamos, who is now chief security officer for the AI coding startup Cognition, also pointed to Spear Street Technology’s Instinct as an AI tool that users are giving access to. Doing so and instructing the tool to handle your finances for you puts banks in an awkward position, he said.

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“So [banks] … now see all of these interactions with them that are authenticated correctly — so they’re not stolen credentials — but are clearly bots doing interaction,” Stamos said.

Some banks have issued warnings about this practice — and even blocked AI agents from accessing accounts. According to CNBC, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has said the bank currently blocks external AI agents from operating on customers’ behalf.

On the company’s earnings call in October, Dimon said, “If people are using them, they should understand the risk. There’s a liability transfer. They should understand there’s a liability transfer. If data is being misused, they should understand it’s being misused.”