Privacy

OpenAI just crossed a line nobody can un-cross. On Friday, the company launched personal finance tools inside ChatGPT that let users connect their actual bank accounts, credit cards, and investment portfolios. The AI can now see your balances, transactions, spending habits, and debts — then serve up personalized financial advice based on your real numbers. It’s either the most useful AI feature ever shipped, or a privacy nightmare waiting to happen. Probably both. ...

Your browser just got a lot smarter — and a lot nosier. Microsoft rolled out one of the most ambitious Edge updates in years on May 13, transforming Copilot from a chatbot sidebar into a memory-equipped, context-aware AI companion. It reads your tabs. It remembers your preferences across sessions. It clicks buttons and fills out forms on websites for you. The reaction has been swift and polarized. PCWorld called parts of it “replacing browser history with AI slop.” CNET flagged Microsoft’s own warning to “avoid using sensitive or personal information” with the agentic features. Meanwhile, early adopters on Reddit are raving about an AI that pulls up quarterly revenue figures from Power BI reports they viewed weeks ago — without opening a single tab. ...

The US government has always been able to spy on its citizens. But AI is making it so easy, so fast, and so comprehensive that even the lawmakers who built the surveillance infrastructure are getting nervous. Section 702 of FISA expires April 30, 2026. What’s playing out on Capitol Hill isn’t a routine renewal — it’s a fight over whether AI-enhanced surveillance should operate without meaningful oversight in a democracy. ...

Your phone knows where you slept last night. Your email provider knows who you argued with this morning. Your browser knows what you’re worried about. Individually, these data points are mundane. Assembled by an AI system with access to government surveillance databases? They become the most detailed profile of your life ever constructed — and right now, Congress is fighting over whether to let that happen without a warrant. The FISA Fight Reaches Breaking Point Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act lets the government collect communications of foreigners abroad without a warrant. When an American contacts someone overseas, their communications get swept up too. The government can then search those intercepted American communications — no warrant required. ...