Why I'm finally giving Meta AI a chance
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Meta is finally promising the one feature that has long kept me away from its AI services: privacy.
Why it matters: In a world with many models capable of meeting my needs, knowing how my data will be used is a key factor, especially with sensitive information.
Driving the news: The Facebook parent, which once called dibs on nearly any data one shared with Meta AI, has in recent months begun to sing a new tune.
- In a 6,500-word August manifesto, CEO Mark Zuckerberg laid out a broad promise. "People should have a fully private mode for personal agents where even Meta or any other service provider cannot see or grant access to your information."
- With the debut of Muse, Meta said users can choose which apps the viral assistant connects to and opt out of having interactions train its models. Muse data also won't feed Meta's ad systems, and a more ambitious confidential virtual machine option, encrypted with a key held only by the user, is still to come.
- Last week, Meta said it plans to bring private processing to AI glasses by year-end, protecting data even while it's processed in the cloud, though it hasn't committed to a date.
Zoom in: I decided to give Meta a chance. I've started (tentatively) using Muse. I turned the setting off that allows Meta to train its systems on my data and am also eagerly awaiting the confidential option.
- For now, I'm using Muse to handle the sorts of things that I don't care if Facebook knows about me, or more accurately, things Facebook already knows.
- I asked my Muse agent on Thursday to alert me as soon as the time was set for the Golden State Valkyries' first playoff game. I woke up on Friday to a note from Muse letting me know the schedule had been announced.
- I also asked it to recommend an option for an easily removed, portable CarPlay display that I could use in a car I park on the street, and it gave me a number of reasonable recommendations.
I've been a big user of Meta glasses since the first version — one that didn't even have AI capabilities to speak of. What sold me was the ability to use the cameras to record sports, pets and kids — interactions that are better suited to being able to stay in the moment rather than pulling out a phone.
- Over time, the glasses have gained AI features, but knowing that any photo or other data I uploaded to its servers could be used for ad targeting and other purposes was a nonstarter.
- I've given Meta a hard time about this, frequently pressing CTO Andrew Bosworth.
Yes, but: This is a very tentative endorsement based on what Meta says it is going to do — and its track record on privacy is more than checkered. (See Friday's verdict from a New Mexico jury.)
- Zuckerberg says Meta will take a cut of transactions made with Muse and that will allow it to offer the service free for most customers.
- But he also once promised to bring end-to-end encryption to all of Meta's messaging surfaces, before retreating on some commitments.
And there are other privacy concerns that remain unaddressed by Meta's latest announcements, especially when it comes to the rights of bystanders whose likenesses are being captured by the Ray-Bans I and others wear.
- "Meta's products that embed microphones and cameras in everyday devices pose serious privacy risks," Electronic Privacy Information Center executive director Alan Butler told Axios.
The bottom line: Trust, but verify. I'm willing to dabble with using Muse and Meta AI on my glasses. But I'm not ready to hand over the keys to the castle.
