Sign up to save tools and stay up to date with the latest in AI
bg
bg
1

Signal President Calls Out Agentic AI As Having 'Profound' Security and Privacy Issues - Slashdot

Mar 08, 2025 - yro.slashdot.org
At SXSW, Signal President Meredith Whittaker highlighted significant privacy and security risks posed by agentic AI, which requires extensive access to users' personal data. She explained that these AI agents need access to various personal information, such as web browsers, credit card details, calendars, and messaging apps, to perform tasks. This access likely involves processing data unencrypted in the cloud, raising concerns about security and privacy. Whittaker warned that this could blur the lines between application and OS layers, potentially compromising user data.

Whittaker also noted that integrating AI agents with apps like Signal could undermine message privacy, as the AI would need to access and summarize texts. She criticized the AI industry's reliance on a surveillance model with mass data collection, arguing that the "bigger is better" paradigm has negative consequences. Whittaker cautioned that agentic AI could further erode privacy and security under the guise of convenience, likening it to a "magic genie bot" managing life's tasks.

Key takeaways:

  • Agentic AI poses significant privacy and security risks due to its need for extensive access to users' personal data, likely processed unencrypted in the cloud.
  • AI agents require root-like permissions to access various personal data sources, potentially compromising security and privacy.
  • Integration of AI agents with apps like Signal could undermine the privacy of messages by requiring access to and summarization of text data.
  • The AI industry's reliance on mass data collection and the "bigger is better" paradigm may have negative consequences for privacy and security.
View Full Article

Comments (1)