Privacy

Does Muse keep profiles of the people in your life?

In early October, researchers pulled Muse’s internal instructions and found an hourly routine for building a page on each person in a user’s life, including people who never signed up for Muse. Here’s what’s reported, what Meta says, and what you can control.

By Published Updated Facts checked 2026-10-07

Quick answer

Yes, by design, according to Muse’s own instructions. ReportedA researcher extracted Muse’s internal files and found an hourly process that creates “a page for every person in the user’s life”: family, partners, friends, colleagues and people you follow. Pages can hold facts, shared history, important dates and suggestions for “strengthening” the relationship. The people described don’t have to use Muse themselves. Meta says Muse builds this context from “public information and from what you’ve chosen to share,” and keeps it in your private virtual machine. You can edit Muse’s memory, ask it to forget things, disconnect apps, or reset it.

How we checked

Not testedWe didn’t open the people pages on our own account: they would contain private details about real people. This page relies on reporting by WIRED, Gizmodo, TIME and Hunterbrook Media, Meta’s statements to them, and Meta’s Help Center, checked October 7, 2026. See how we label evidence.

What researchers found

ReportedIndependent AI safety researcher Karan Joshi extracted Muse’s instructions and system prompts by asking Muse, through the normal chat, to copy and share its own files, and shared them with WIRED. Separately, The Future Society published instructions from an exported copy of a Muse virtual machine.12 Meta told WIRED it intended these files to be accessible, for transparency.1

According to the instructions, Muse runs an hourly process to create and update a page for each person in your life, starting “sparse” and filling in over time.1

What a person’s page can contain

ReportedWIRED and Gizmodo describe these sections:12

Facts
Who they are, how they’re connected to you, where they live and what they do.
History
Shared events and milestones, such as a trip or a resolved argument.
The relationship
How close you are, what it’s built on and how you act with each other.
In common
Shared interests.
Open threads
Recurring topics, like an apartment move or a shared savings goal, plus dates such as birthdays and anniversaries.
Strengthening
Suggestions such as a reason to call or a date worth remembering.

The instructions also tell Muse to use only the evidence it has, and say invented details are worse than an empty page.1

ReportedLater reporting went further. TIME (October 6) said Muse’s instructions also have it keep a continuously updated profile of the user, including notes on when they respond best to nudges.7 Earlier, Hunterbrook Media (September 28) said Muse compiled lists of Facebook and Instagram accounts belonging to people in vulnerable groups when asked in plain language.8 More in Is Muse safe?

What Meta says

Per MetaA Meta spokesperson told WIRED and Gizmodo that an agent “needs to have context about you and those you interact with,” and that Muse “gathers that based on public information and from what you’ve chosen to share,” giving the example of recognizing that an invoice came from the plumber you hired. The spokesperson said the information is stored in each user’s dedicated secure virtual machine, which other users’ agents can’t access.12

Per MetaMeta’s Help Center says Muse learns from what you share in chats, patterns in your interactions, “context from Connectors you’ve connected,” and its file-based memory, which you can edit. It doesn’t specifically address information about other people.3

Why it matters

  • Other people don’t get a say. If you connect your email, messages or WhatsApp, Muse can learn about the people who write to you. The reporting doesn’t mention any way for them to know.
  • Inferences can be wrong. Oxford ethicist Carissa Véliz told WIRED that what AI systems infer about us is concerning whether it’s correct or not.1
  • It’s more than rivals emphasize. Miranda Bogen of the Center for Democracy and Technology told WIRED Muse appears to put more emphasis on relationships and personal contacts than competing assistants.1
  • The upside is real too. The same memory is what lets Muse remember a birthday or which flowers your partner likes.

What you can do

  1. Review its memoryPer MetaMuse keeps what it knows in files you can open and edit, including MEMORY.md (Assistant icon → Identity → Memory).45 Step by step.
  2. Ask it to forgetMeta describes a “forget” skill: tell Muse to remove a specific topic, such as a person, from its memory.5
  3. Limit what it readsDisconnect email, messaging or social connectors you don’t need in Settings → Connectors, and WhatsApp in Messaging channels.
  4. Turn off AI trainingSettings → Data controls → “Help improve our AI models.” How.
  5. Start overReset Muse to delete its data, chats and tasks. Meta notes Muse “may still remember information it learned from what you deleted” if you only delete chats.4

If you don’t use Muse

Per MetaMeta’s Help Center has a page for people who don’t use Muse. It says your information can reach Muse when a user shares it, for example meeting attendees in a connected calendar, or when Muse reads public web pages. Meta says it doesn’t link that information to any Meta account, doesn’t store it in a way that identifies who it belongs to, and “we don’t sell your information, and we never will.”6

You can contact Meta through its Privacy rights request page. Meta notes it can only act on information it can tie to a Meta account or to you, which may limit what a request achieves.6 Telling the person who uses Muse is still the most direct step. All support routes.

Sources

  1. Muse creates detailed profiles of all your friends and family WIRED · Oct 3, 2026
  2. Meta’s Muse is collecting information on everyone in your life Gizmodo · Oct 5, 2026
  3. Customize Muse’s personality and memories Meta Help Center · checked Oct 6, 2026
  4. How to manage your Muse data Meta Help Center · checked Oct 5, 2026
  5. How Muse handles your privacy, safety and security Meta Help Center · checked Oct 2, 2026
  6. Information for people who don’t use Muse Meta Help Center · checked Oct 6, 2026
  7. Meta’s Muse AI agent is building a dossier on you TIME · Oct 6, 2026
  8. Dox for Me, O Muse: Meta’s new AI agent built lists of people in vulnerable groups on request Hunterbrook Media · Sept 28, 2026

Last checked: 2026-10-07. We’ll update this page if Meta changes how Muse handles information about other people. Tell us about changes.

Frequently asked questions

Does Muse create profiles of my friends and family?

According to instructions researchers extracted from Muse, yes: an hourly process creates “a page for every person in the user’s life,” covering family, partners, friends and colleagues, WIRED reported on October 3, 2026. Meta says Muse gathers this context from public information and what you choose to share.1

Do the people need to use Muse to have a page?

No. Gizmodo noted the pages cover people in your life “even if those people don’t use Muse themselves.” Meta’s own help page confirms that information about non-users “may be provided to Muse, even if you don’t use Muse directly.” They aren’t notified, but they can contact Meta through its Privacy rights request page.62

Where is this information stored?

Meta says it’s kept in your own dedicated, secure virtual machine, which other users’ agents can’t access.12

Can I stop Muse remembering someone?

You can review and edit Muse’s memory files, ask it to forget a topic, disconnect apps it reads from, or reset Muse entirely. Meta’s Help Center doesn’t describe a setting specifically for information about other people.34