Should we be worried about our privacy now that Meta's Muse, and the Muse Charm device, are here? Simon Young of Question.Marketing has spent years targeting ads on Google and Meta. In this episode he talks about who owns the data, what "on by default" means, whether these devices should be anywhere near children, and why he thinks ads inside AI assistants will turn into sales agents that know your budget.
What is on the record:
- Meta hasn't said Muse Charm is always listening. The demo was tap-to-talk (TechCrunch, 23 Sep 2026).
- Muse uses your interactions to train Meta's AI by default. Meta calls that "a good default" in its Muse safety post (Meta, 8 Sep 2026, https://research.meta.ai/blog/security-and-safety-for-ai-agents-our-approach-with-muse; also quoted by Business Insider, 21 Sep 2026). You can switch it off in Muse under Settings, then Data controls (Meta Help Centre).
- Meta says Muse conversations aren't shared with its ad systems (Meta Newsroom, 8 Sep 2026).
- Muse is 18+ (Muse terms and the Apple App Store listing, via Daily Caller News Foundation, 10 Sep 2026). The UK's under-16 social media ban is expected to come into force in spring 2027 (GOV.UK, 15 Jun 2026).
- Muse has no UK launch date yet (as of 25 Sep 2026).
- Meta has launched camera-free Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses alongside its camera models (The Verge, 24 Sep 2026).
- Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in October 2025 that Meta does not use the phone's microphone to eavesdrop on you (The Verge, 1 Oct 2025). That was a general statement, not about Muse. When Simon says his phone is listening, that is his personal view.
The sales agent scenario is Simon's prediction, not a Meta announcement.
Full transcript and receipts: https://question.marketing/library/muse-charm-privacy-should-we-be-worried-2026
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC3vAfGNzXE
Would you want your voice built into a training model for an AI?
Chapters
00:00 Should we be worried about our privacy?
00:48 Muse, Muse Charm and the AI assistant race
01:39 Who owns our data?
02:07 Voice assistants and answer engines
02:54 Should these devices listen to children?
03:42 Living with an AI pocket device
05:05 Who's learning everything?
05:34 Influence, elections and social feeds
06:34 When AI assistants become sales agents
08:27 Opt out, not opt in
08:49 Is the phone listening? (Simon's view)
10:12 Controls for kids
10:35 A knowledge race
11:13 Your voice in a training model?
Question.Marketing: https://question.marketing/
