If you think Hamlet twisted and turned too much trying to make a decision, the Apple technorati are tying themselves into knots over the latest AI brouhaha visited upon us by Meta’s Muse and OpenAI’s Dots like the ghost of the young Dane’s father.
The issue at hand initially came to light via a post by Jason Aten that I linked to last week. Aten claimed he caught Meta’s Muse agent apparently delving into his Messages even though he says he did not permit such access. Apple, presumably in response to Aten’s post, issued a statement saying it was going to put in additional controls for permission to grant Full Disk Access. Apple calls that access “extraordinary” and claims this is a forward looking move given what most assume will be more agents with more capabilities proliferating. Here’s a quote:
Some developers are using Full Disk Access in ways that could put users at risk, exposing everything on their systems—including files, mail, messages, and even browsing history—without users’ full knowledge and understanding. For communication apps, this can also compromise the privacy of the people users are communicating with.
Going forward, we will introduce additional controls to ensure that users who genuinely wish to grant an app this extraordinary level of access can only do so with very explicit user action. Addressing this is critical. As AI agents become increasingly capable and autonomous, the risks associated with this level of access will grow substantially. We are committed to ensuring users clearly understand these risks before granting such access, so they can make informed decisions about their own data and privacy.
On the one hand it’s easy to see that some sort of additional controls would be a good thing for the vast majority of users who probably still don’t know what an agent that might be requesting Full Disk Access is. On the other, there are some well trusted developers with apps that actually require that access to function. If there was a third hand, it would be the largely more tech-literate tech press who are seeing the challenge before Apple and concerned developers. The apprehension is that this might further lock down Mac computing and make it look more like iOS/iPadOS computing. Nick Heer has a good piece on the matter here.
Whether Aten’s claims are true or not, I think the writing is on the wall in bold strokes that most who pay attention to these matters have trouble trusting any and all of the participants in the race now running in what often feels like the beginning of a wild west stampede. Remember Apple has a dog in this hunt also, even though it may be bringing up the rear.
As someone who supports a number of Mac users, many of them blissfully unaware of potential threats, the thought of talking to them about what Full Disk Access might or might not mean is a bit daunting. At this point no one knows what Apple’s plans entail or to what degree. I would safely bet that Apple has the less tech-savvy category of users firmly in mind however those plans turn out. My guess is the thinking is that If they’re smart enough to see and understand the problem, one would assume they’re smart enough to work through and beyond it.
In a way, we’ve been here before with aggressive popups requesting permissions on both Macs and Windows. Reactions and overreactions begat more reactions and overreactions. In my mind, as serious as those past episodes seemed, what we’re now facing feels more fraught with potential peril. Especially for those who don’t have the time or inclination to pay attention in a fast moving tech era that has leaders stating that “the world should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of this technology.”
And keep in mind, those of us old enough to remember those past reactions and overreactions aren’t the targets the Metas and OpenAIs are aiming at. All you have to do is see the cute little Muse’s and Dots to understand a long game that might not take that much longer to unveil itself further.
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