Apple announced macOS updates on October 2 making AI requests for Mac data more visible to users, with new controls and explicit prompts around the Full Disk Access permission that lets an app reach deep into a user's stored data. Granting it will now require, in Apple's words, "very explicit user action."

The timing is not subtle. It follows complaints that Meta's Muse AI agent — which got a Mac app in mid-September — read private Messages content without proper permission, most prominently from Inc. columnist Jason Aten, who said Muse synced more than 187,000 rows of his local iMessage database. Meta disputes the account, saying two layers of permission (Full Disk Access plus the Messages connector) are required and cannot be circumvented even by a bug.

Apple framed the change as a response to shifting risks: as autonomous AI tools grow more capable, the dangers tied to broad data access evolve alongside them. It adds friction and transparency at the moment users hand over the keys — a de facto privacy floor for AI agents on the Mac.