★ I’ll Wait

It has been a Friday, and the popularity of Muse has not waned, still reigning as the top-ranked app in the iOS App Store for a full week. While it is uncertain whether this reign will be a fleeting moment or continue, it is evident that Muse has struck a chord with users. The heavy promotion by Meta on their own channels, such as Instagram and Facebook, certainly contributes to its success.

However, Muse's iOS app is confined to a sandbox environment, owing to its nature. Thus, the only form I am familiar with is on the Mac app, which offers more power since it allows Muse to control the Mac. The powerful nature of the Mac app is the reason it must be downloaded from the web rather than the Mac App Store. The Mac App Store does not host apps with functionalities similar to Muse's, as they are prohibited in the store.

While there are valid reasons for Apple's strict policies on the Mac App Store, benefiting both developers and users, the advantages of allowing users to freely install apps from the Mac App Store are that they can trust these apps won't harm their system without any caution. The idea of running an agentic AI on my Mac is a straightforward one.

I would never permit a stranger to use my Mac, even for a brief moment, regardless of my presence. Let alone entrusting them with continuous non-supervised access to my system. This sentiment extends to Meta, Muse's creator, and I had no inclination to attempt OpenClaw or utilize Muse on my Mac. Granted, there might be a temptation to try Muse in the cloud, rather than on my Mac, but I still wouldn't grant it access to my email, calendar, or banking information.

Such an action would be akin to granting a complete stranger access to my personal life. Therefore, Muse remains a toy for me to experiment with, albeit with limited functionality. Many individuals employ human personal assistants, entrusting them with access to sensitive data like email, calendar, files, and banking. I, too, have contemplated the idea of hiring a personal assistant and granting them access to my email, calendar, files, and bank accounts.

While I have never done so, I have consistently contemplated the thought. The appeal is undeniable. However, engaging with a personal assistant necessitates building trust over time. I have always valued my own trust, and thus, I would be deeply uneasy granting access to my life to an entity I did not trust. Although I am not dismissing the possibility of eventually granting access to an AI agent, I believe that sooner or later, I will do so to a certain extent, carefully measured.

However, for now, the answer remains a resounding "no." One of my most cherished high school teachers was a history instructor named Gary Choyka. I had the privilege of having him as my homeroom teacher and was impressed by his daily subscription to The Philadelphia Inquirer, a genuine newspaper, not just our local rag. Mr. Choyka was an exceptional teacher, possessing a profound understanding of the world and our civil rights and liberties.

It was from Mr. Choyka that I learned never to allow the police to enter my home simply because they claim to be entering. This lesson proved useful during high school parties, making me the designated person to answer the door. A significant factor in Mr. Choyka's success as a teacher was his commanding presence and mastery of the classroom.

One of his most effective techniques involved stopping a lecture mid-sentence, staring at disruptive students, and, after a few moments of silence, uttering the simple yet powerful phrase, "I'll wait." This technique was akin to being zapped by Rick Moranis's kid-shrinking machine, and thirty years later, I can still hear him saying it.

The phrase still reverberates within me. It exemplifies the importance of patience and respect for others' space, a notion I apply when contemplating AI agents like Muse that seek control over my personal computing and, by extension, my personal life. "I'll wait."