Cybersecurity specialist Hed Kovetz wants a personal AI agent to manage routine admin work and reduce his daily burden. Still he hesitates to grant any current commercial tools such as Meta Muse or OpenAI Dots entry to email inboxes banking records medical files or other private data.

"A personal AI helper sounds appealing because it can read messages place orders and settle invoices," he explained to CBS News. "I would welcome that support yet the systems might be exploited or act outside their assigned limits."

Kovetz recognizes the strong market potential for these products but argues that major tech companies launched them before adequate protections were in place. He therefore urges users to limit the information they provide to personal AI agents. Other security specialists suggest the tools can be used safely when proper controls are applied and users understand the exposure involved.

"I would avoid giving complete access to these commercial AI agents," Kovetz noted. "Their security and privacy features remain underdeveloped. Some people claim they have nothing to hide yet they still possess medical histories and financial accounts."

These agents have already gained wide adoption. When Meta Muse launched last month it quickly topped Apple App Store charts. Although the agents can save time and money by reviewing private messages and handling payments they may also perform actions never explicitly approved leaving users with few options for correction.

Consumer advocate Lindsay Owens pointed out that it can be difficult to determine whether an agent serves the user or a merchant. She observed that Walmart shopping agent Sparky increased average purchase amounts by nearly 40 percent compared with ordinary browsing suggesting some agents may encourage higher spending.

Is it advisable to let an AI agent handle purchases?

Consumer education specialist Lynette Owens of TrendLife cautioned users against granting personal AI agents broad access to their information. For online shopping she finds the agents helpful for product research and price comparison but advises against allowing them to complete transactions.

"Delegating deal comparisons is acceptable yet I am not prepared to transfer purchase authority especially for costly items," she said. "I would not provide credit card credentials."

One concern is that attackers could mislead the agent through prompt injection by embedding hidden instructions on a webpage or in an email. The agent might then ignore limits such as a spending cap and reveal private data or carry out unintended actions.

Unlike conventional hacks prompt injection does not require account breaches or malware. An attacker simply plants commands that the agent may treat as legitimate instructions.

"Prompt injection cases are rising and attackers are refining their concealment methods on websites," Owens said. "Enthusiasm for new capabilities is high but security measures often trail behind."

Media attorney Douglas J. Wood warned that users remain responsible if they authorize an AI agent to shop and it misinterprets instructions or overspends. Providing card details makes the agent an authorized user so issuers may deny loss protection claims.

His recommendation is straightforward: avoid shortcuts. Conduct purchases directly rather than delegating card access which he compared to handing a vault code to a robber while hoping only a small amount is taken.

How much personal information is being shared?

Entrepreneur Chris Franco takes a different view. He notes that companies have gathered consumer data for years mainly to improve advertising. With AI agents the exchange of information yields more direct benefits such as automated subscription management so he sees the arrangement as favorable.

Franco still sets strict limits and monitors activity rather than granting full control. He allows agents including Muse and Grok Bot to scan his Gmail to organize receipts and flag unused subscriptions a task that once took hours but now finishes in minutes.

He accepts that agents gain insight into personal matters yet believes the practical advantages outweigh potential downsides. "The gains from providing context far exceed any hypothetical rogue scenarios," he said.

Understand the agent operations

Carnegie Mellon professor Matt Fredrikson grants his agents considerable independence while tracking their actions with custom monitoring tools. He advises users to request plain-language explanations of how tasks were completed.

He compares the arrangement to hiring a human assistant where trust is earned through ongoing dialogue and verification of reasoning. Columbia professor Sandra Matz adds that if a person would not be trusted with sensitive information an AI agent should not be either noting that agents lack the emotional restraints that discourage humans from breaching confidence.