The trick: Scope Swap
Meta's Muse is 'building dossiers on 4 million users' and 'sharing data between agents.' The dossiers are reported and undisputed.
The sharing is de-identified lessons, per Meta.
Social posts said Meta's Muse agent is building dossiers on its 4 million users and that interaction data is shared between Muse agent instances.
Before you read on. Your call?
TRUE, BUT
4 million
TIME reports Muse updates dossiers hourly on users and the people they mention, including non-users, and a Meta spokesperson did not dispute TIME's findings.
The twist
The instructions say Muse agents 'teach each other through shared lessons,' but Meta told TIME it de-identifies learnings and they are not shared directly between individual VMs. Nothing in this record tests the scrubbing.
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The trick has a name
We call it Scope Swap: applies to far less than it sounds like. You'll see it again. Learn to spot it →
Receipts
- Supports time.com:
Muse, the popular new AI personal assistant from Meta, is building continuously updated dossiers on its 4 million users
- Supports time.com:
Each hour, Muse updates its dossiers on you and the people you’ve mentioned in chats, messages, and emails that Muse has read.
- Supports time.com:
Even people who don’t use Muse are subject to this mapping process by other people’s Muse agents.
- Context time.com:
a Meta spokesperson did not dispute TIME’s findings.
- Supports time.com:
Muse agents across many VMs [virtual machines] teach each other through shared lessons
- Context time.com:
Agents are directed to scrub users’ names and other identifying information before sharing insights
- Refutes time.com:
we de-identify learnings; however, this information is used to improve the overall product rather than being shared directly between individual VMs
- Refutes time.com:
The data is not shared with Meta’s advertising system or other Muse agents, according to the company.
- Context time.com:
isolated so that no one else's agent can access it
- Context time.com:
But asking Muse to forget something does not necessarily erase the message in which it was shared
- Context time.com:
with more than 5 million downloads
- Context time.com:
Meta has said it plans to offer users encryption later this year, preventing even the company from accessing Muse data.
- Refutes about.fb.com:
Muse runs on its own dedicated computer in the cloud, contained so no one else’s agent can reach it.
- Context about.fb.com:
People can also opt out of their interactions being used to train Meta’s AI models.
- Context about.fb.com:
Muse remembers what matters to a person, and they can always tell it to “forget” specific things it’s learned.
- Supports bushletter.com:
Muse builds continuously updated dossiers on its users and on people in their networks, including individuals who have never held a Meta account
- Context bushletter.com:
Meta was approached for comment and did not dispute the report.
Open the Receipts Pack → What each source proves, every figure traced, and what would change our verdict.