ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Banks are taking steps to block AI agents from unauthorized bank account use.
- Sharing login credentials with AI agents is risky.
- The technology could pose a privacy nightmare to your financial accounts.
The age-old warning “don’t share your passwords with anyone” applies to AI agents, too.
Also: Who’s responsible for catching rogue AI agents? You are
The second-largest bank in the US is urging its customers to stop sharing their banking login credentials with AI. In an email blast titled “Protecting your finances in the AI world,” Bank of America advised customers against sharing their passwords with AI agents.
This follows a trend across banking institutions, where some of the top banks in the country, including Citi, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo, are restricting third-party AI agent access.
AI agents like Meta’s Muse, Anthropic’s Claude, and OpenAI’s Dots work on behalf of the user and across apps and services to make purchases, send messages, and fulfill to-dos. But the agents can pose a great risk to your banking portfolio if, for example, they make a financial decision on your behalf or compromise your information in a data leak.
Despite their growing popularity and quick adoption by the general public, AI agents are a privacy nightmare. One of the fast-growing agents, Muse, requests contacts, calendar, email messages, and logins and passwords as you set up your account — but it doesn’t stop there.
ZDNET’s Charlie Osborne reports that Muse also can gather data on photos and videos, financial information, app information and performance, health and fitness data, web browsing, audio, and more. Muse’s user privacy policy indicates that this data may be used or shared. Since its September launch, the Muse app has grown to over 10 million users in just 40 days.
Also: Meta Muse is the worst AI agent for privacy
Just last week, Axios reported that AI agents are gaining unauthorized access to their user’s bank accounts and acting independently of user instructions, sending some of the biggest US banking institutions into a frenzy.
JPMorgan has already blocked Muse and AI agent Instinct from accessing bank accounts to seemingly get ahead of this AI privacy issue. “We’re not going to allow just any … outside agent to come in inside the company, because it’s just too risky for clients and for JPMorgan,” Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan CEO said in the company’s earnings call.
Nina Raemont
Editor, Wearables & Health Tech
Nina Raemont is ZDNET’s Health and Wearables Editor based in New York City. She is constantly testing out health trackers and always has at least two (but normally three) around her fingers or wrist. She was formerly an Associate Writer for CNET. She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota. In her spare time, she’s in her kitchen, trying a new baking recipe. See full bio