Apple to Begin Fighting Back Against AI Agents
Hello everyone. The Apple news cycle has once again picked up. We have a few developments worth looking into. For today’s update, we will talk about changes coming to Full Disk Access on macOS.
Let’s jump right in.
Apple to Begin Fighting Back Against AI Agents
Full Disk Access on macOS is being weaponized
In a post uploaded to its developer news page on October 2nd, here’s Apple:
“We give developers powerful APIs to build incredible capabilities into their apps for Apple products, backed by a set of controls designed to protect users’ private data. Full Disk Access largely sidesteps these controls in order to allow backup apps to function properly on the Mac. Some developers are using Full Disk Access in ways that could put users at risk, exposing everything on their systems—including files, mail, messages, and even browsing history—without users’ full knowledge and understanding. For communication apps, this can also compromise the privacy of the people users are communicating with.
Going forward, we will introduce additional controls to ensure that users who genuinely wish to grant an app this extraordinary level of access can only do so with very explicit user action. Addressing this is critical. As AI agents become increasingly capable and autonomous, the risks associated with this level of access will grow substantially. We are committed to ensuring users clearly understand these risks before granting such access, so they can make informed decisions about their own data and privacy.”
My initial reaction to Apple’s post was that it was straightforward. Instead of going heavy with the tech jargon, Apple stuck to plain English. It’s a statement that those not deep into Mac developer circles can understand. This is important as those users are being impacted by Full Disk Access being weaponized by AI agents.
With that said, the lack of detail found in Apple’s post made a few people nervous. On X
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