Agentic AI: Convenience at the Cost of Privacy?
Signal President Meredith Whittaker warned at SXSW that the burgeoning field of agentic AI, while offering convenience, poses significant privacy risks. AI agents, designed to handle tasks like booking tickets and sending messages, require access to a user's browser, credit card information, calendar, and messaging apps—essentially granting them root-level permissions. This exposes user data to cloud servers, blurring the lines between application and OS layers. Whittaker argued this "putting your brain in a jar" approach undermines security and privacy, even threatening privacy-focused apps like Signal. She urged the industry to address the potential dangers of agentic AI, cautioning against sacrificing privacy for convenience.