Mous, Meta's AI personal assistant, is continuously creating files on its 4 million users that focus on their social relationships and preferences. This information is updated continuously and every hour, including details about individuals that users have referenced in their chats, messages, and emails.
User Social File Details
Mous's files include a map of each user's social relationships, detailing how users know each other, shared interests, disputes, and "tensions and alliances" among their social groups. Even individuals who do not use Mous are affected by this mapping process, as Mous is designed to "enhance your relationship with users."
This AI assistant is programmed to identify users' goals, even those they have not explicitly stated. For example, if a user responds better to reminders at specific times, Mous stores this information and regularly analyzes the user's daily conversations.
Privacy and Transparency Issues
In response to questions about these processes, a Meta spokesperson confirmed that Mous retains important user information to function effectively as a personal assistant. Meta has announced that since the launch of Mous last month, the app has reached the top rank in the Apple Store in the U.S. and has been downloaded over 5 million times.
Meta also allows users to export a copy of their Mous files and informs them that each user has complete control over the file that their AI assistant creates. Users can tell Mous to forget certain information whenever they wish. However, a request for forgetting does not mean deleting the original message, and Mous's internal guidelines explicitly state that it should not inform the user that original messages may remain in the chat.
Meta has also announced that it will soon offer an option for encrypting user information so that even the company itself cannot access Mous's data. However, this option is not yet available.
Mous's internal guidelines include files and session logs that users can access through the Mous file browser. While transparency in this area could significantly enhance Meta's credibility among users, it remains unclear whether most Mous users are aware of this issue.
