AI agents are getting more capable, but giving them access to everything on your computer comes with some pretty obvious risks. Apple apparently agrees, and it is preparing to tighten one of the most powerful permissions available in macOS.
In an update for developers, Apple says it plans to introduce additional controls around Full Disk Access. The company specifically points to increasingly capable and autonomous AI agents as a reason stronger protections are needed.
Full Disk Access does pretty much what the name suggests. An app with the permission can potentially access files and other sensitive information that macOS would normally protect. Apple says this can include email, messages, and browsing history.
There are legitimate reasons for an app to need this kind of access. Backup software is an obvious example. The problem is that Apple says some developers are using Full Disk Access in ways that could put users at risk.
AI makes the situation considerably more interesting. Traditional software generally waits for you to tell it what to do. An AI agent can potentially make decisions and take actions on your behalf, which means giving one broad access to your Mac carries a different set of risks.
Apple doesn’t dance around the issue. The company says that as AI agents become more capable and autonomous, the risks associated with Full Disk Access will “grow substantially.”
Yikes. That’s a pretty strong warning coming from Apple, folks.
To address the problem, the company plans to require what it calls “very explicit user action” before software can receive this level of access. Apple hasn’t explained exactly what the new process will look like, so we don’t yet know how much additional friction Mac users and developers should expect.
Some developers probably won’t love another barrier between their software and macOS. Still, Full Disk Access isn’t an ordinary permission. If an AI agent can read huge amounts of personal information and act without someone approving every individual step, making the user jump through an extra hoop doesn’t sound unreasonable.
This also highlights a problem that will become harder for Apple, Microsoft, Google, and other operating system makers to ignore. AI agents become more useful when they can see and control more of a computer, but every additional permission increases what can go wrong.
The challenge will be finding a balance. Lock things down too aggressively and AI agents lose much of what makes them useful. Give them too much freedom and one bad decision, security flaw, or malicious app could expose an enormous amount of personal information.
Apple clearly thinks Full Disk Access is one place where today’s balance isn’t good enough anymore.
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