AI Agents Demand Unprecedented Access to Personal Data, Raising Major Privacy Concerns

Dec 25, 2025
WIRED
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Summary

AI agents now demand sweeping access to personal emails, calendars, messages, and even take screenshots every few seconds to function, creating unprecedented privacy risks as tech companies build detailed user profiles while security experts warn of potential data leaks and unverifiable information handling.

Key Points

  • AI agents and assistants now require extensive access to personal data including emails, calendars, messages, and operating systems to function effectively, marking a shift from previous AI systems that primarily scraped public internet data
  • Major tech companies are developing AI agents that can take screenshots every few seconds, access business databases and communications, and even search through users' personal photos to build detailed profiles
  • Privacy experts warn that AI agents pose significant security risks through potential data leaks, prompt-injection attacks, and the inability for users to truly verify how their sensitive information is being handled by these systems

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