Meta's Muse Is Better at Surveilling Than Helping Me

Meta just launched Muse, and if you thought the company had learned anything about user privacy, think again. According to reports, the app follows Meta's now-standard playbook of automatically enrolling users in data collection for AI training, while also encouraging people to hand over bank account details, email credentials, and even passport information.

This isn't just about targeted ads anymore. When an app asks for your passport and banking info, it's crossing into a different tier of data intimacy. The pitch is likely convenience, some kind of identity verification or payment feature wrapped in AI assistance. But the trade-off is handing Meta an unprecedented level of personal data, all while being opted into training models you'll never see the inside of.

The pattern here matters more than the individual app. Meta has made data maximalism its default posture. Every new product launch, from Ray-Ban smart glasses to AI chatbots, comes with the same fine print: your interactions, your content, your behavior, all fair game for the machine learning pipeline unless you dig through settings to opt out.

For anyone building with AI or thinking about which tools to trust, Muse is a case study in what not to do. Transparency and user control should be table stakes, not afterthoughts. If a company treats consent as an obstacle to overcome rather than a baseline to respect, that tells you how they'll handle your data when things go wrong.

The broader issue is that this approach is becoming normalized. Users are getting conditioned to accept surveillance as the cost of entry for any new AI feature. That's a problem not just for privacy advocates, but for anyone who wants AI tools that actually serve user interests instead of feeding corporate data engines.

What this means for you: before connecting any AI app to sensitive accounts, check what data it collects and whether you're opted into training by default. For tools that require personal info, ask yourself if the convenience is worth the exposure. When you need AI assistance with sensitive tasks, use privacy-focused alternatives or local models. Try this prompt with a privacy-respecting AI: "Help me draft an email to [company] asking what data they collect, how long they retain it, and how to opt out of AI training." It's a simple way to take back some control.