Oct 27, 2026
Matt Robb wanted to sell a keyboard, so he put Muse, Meta’s new AI agent, in charge of his Facebook Marketplace listing. The tech content creator later found out Muse had agreed to a buyer’s price and sent the stranger his home address to come retrieve the item. It even messaged “Yep I’m here!” on his behalf — but he wasn’t home.
Thankfully no money went missing. But the same kind of software can ask for access to your bank accounts and credit cards, which has led the CEOs of two of Canada’s biggest banks to sound the alarm on allowing this technology to access your personal information.
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The real risks aren’t rogue robots. They’re an “allow” button that hands an AI agent more control than you meant to give, and the unsettled question of who’s financially liable when things go wrong.
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How did Meta’s Muse share Robb’s address with a stranger?
Robb told CBC News he picked “Allow always” instead of “Allow one time” when he asked Muse to take over his Marketplace sales. This gave the agent permission to message buyers on his behalf using a template that included the pickup address he’d provided. He believed Muse would still ask for permission before accepting an offer. However, in an update posted to X, Robb said that it took a $600 offer without seeking approval — even though he had set a strict $700 minimum.
Meta sees it differently. The company said that Muse always checks with users before performing any sensitive actions, such as purchases or sending an email, and that the data it collects is stored securely. David Singleton, co-founder and CEO of Meta Superintelligence Labs, replied to Robb’s post on X, saying the two had jointly confirmed that there was no breach of privacy controls. Additionally, Robb says Meta told him it would make the setting clearer.
There is a lesson to be learned here when it comes to your money: If an AI agent acts within the permissions you granted it, that may make it harder to argue that what it did was unauthorized.
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Why are Canada’s big banks pushing back on AI agents?
Muse is catching on fast. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that more than 10 million people in the U.S. and Canada set up accounts in roughly six weeks.
With a customer’s permission, agents like Muse or OpenAI’s ChatGPT can link to bank accounts and credit cards to monitor balances and transactions, while also suggesting changes in spending habits. Purchases usually still need a human to approve them.
Those connections appear to be on the minds of the top dogs at some of the nation’s biggest financial institutions. On Oct. 20, RBC’s CEO Dave McKay told Bloomberg that the bank is considering blocking Muse from customer information, noting that, when it comes to consumer protection, the bank is ‘liable for that as an organization.” A day later, at the Toronto Global Forum, BMO’s CEO Darryl White said that giving AI agents your account numbers, passwords or PINs is a bad idea.
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RBC’s head of AI, Bruce Ross, told The Logic the bank won’t let agents like Muse connect without having adequate safeguards put in place. Ross added that regulators haven’t yet settled on who is legally responsible when an agent acting for a customer gets it wrong. The Financial Stability Board, an international body that monitors the global financial system, has also weighed in on the topic. With support from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, Canada’s federal banking regulator, it has urged lenders to verify agents’ identities and restrict their access to sensitive data.
Who pays if an AI agent costs you money?
Canada’s consumer protections assume you keep your credentials private. According to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, the federal agency that oversees consumer protection in banking, institutions will usually cover losses if you have taken the appropriate steps to protect your card and PIN. Under the debit card code of practice, consumers aren’t liable for losses that stem from circumstances beyond their reasonable control.
Sharing a password or PIN with a third-party tool can complicate that claim. For example, banks client card agreements typically put the responsibility on customers to take reasonable precautions to keep their card and PIN safe.
Plenty of Canadians are already exposed. About nine million of them use services that rely on screen scraping, which works by having customers hand over their banking passwords. The Consumer-Driven Banking Act, which received royal assent in March 2026, has set up a secure, Bank of Canada-supervised system for sharing financial data. However, the regulations needed to bring it into force were only proposed in June, which means open banking isn’t up and running yet in Canada.
What to do now
If you want to try an AI agent with your finances, here are some things to be conscious of:
- Choose “Allow one time” for anything involving money, your address or messages sent on your behalf
- Never give an AI agent your online banking password, PIN, full card number or SIN
- Stick to read-only access if you connect accounts for budgeting purposes
- Review connected apps regularly in both the agent’s settings and your online banking, and revoke what you don’t use
- Turn on transaction alerts so unexpected activity shows up immediately
- Read your cardholder agreement before linking anything to see what you’re liable for
- Report unauthorized transactions to your bank right away
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Writer and editor based in Toronto with experience in personal finance, insurance, arts and culture and branded content.
