AI powers everything from search engines and mobile apps to smart browsers and digital assistants, but these tools are now raising serious privacy concerns as they increasingly demand intrusive access to personal data.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming every aspect of our digital lives. It now powers phones, productivity tools, browsers, and even fast-food drive-throughs. But as AI becomes more embedded in daily life, privacy concerns are growing. These tools offer convenience, but they often aggressively collect user data, raising serious questions about the true cost of using AI.

What once raised eyebrows—like a flashlight app requesting access to your contacts and location—now repeats itself in AI apps that ask to read your emails, download your calendar, and view your stored photos. Developers often justify these requests by claiming they enhance your experience, but they come at the cost of your privacy.

Comet Browser Exposes the Data-Hungry Side of AI Tools:

Take Perplexity’s latest AI-powered web browser, Comet, for example. The browser delivers AI search and automates tasks like summarizing emails and checking calendars. However, TechCrunch recently reviewed Comet and revealed that it requests broad permissions when connecting to your Google Account. These permissions allow it to send emails, download contacts, manage events across all calendars, and even copy your company’s employee directory.

Perplexity claims that most data stays stored locally, but the permissions it requests still grant access to highly sensitive information, potentially allowing the company to use that data to train AI models for broader use. And this isn’t an isolated incident. Other AI apps, including call transcribers and meeting assistants, also demand access to real-time conversations, personal calendars, contacts, and more. Even Meta has begun testing AI-powered features that scan users’ entire photo libraries—photos that haven’t even been uploaded.

Signal President Meredith Whittaker likened AI agents to “putting your brain in a jar,” highlighting how some AI products request access to your browser to make bookings, use stored credit card details, access contact lists, and read browser history and saved passwords. These apps promote effortless task automation, but often hide the disturbing extent of access they demand.

Can You Trust AI? Granting Control Raises Red Flags:

The risks of AI don’t stop at data access—they go even further. In many cases, users permit AI agents to act on their behalf. That’s a huge leap of trust—not only in the AI’s accuracy, which remains shaky at best—but also in the companies developing and profiting from these tools.

When something goes wrong, it’s not uncommon for engineers or human reviewers to dig into your private queries to troubleshoot. That means your data could be seen, stored, or even used to help train future AI models—all without your clear knowledge.

And what do you get in return? Maybe a few saved minutes. But the trade-off? You’re often handing over full access to your inbox, messages, calendar history, and more—data that could go back years.

For anyone who values privacy or digital security, this should be a wake-up call. These permissions echo the early days of tech overreach, when users rightly questioned why a flashlight app needed their location. Today, AI tools deserve that same level of scrutiny—if not more.

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