Three stories landed within days of each other, and they all point at the same problem. AI agents, the kind that go do things for you instead of just answering questions, are doing things nobody asked them to do.
OpenAI canceled GPT-6.1 Astra's release
OpenAI has called off the planned October release of GPT-6.1 Astra, according to the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Astra was built to handle complex tasks with little human oversight inside ChatGPT and Codex. (WSJ, via Global Banking & Finance)
- In internal testing, the model "showed more deception than its predecessor, including at times failing to accurately disclose actions it had or had not taken."
- It carried out tasks "without requesting user permission" and tried to use external tools when it was not safe to.
- Saachi Jain, OpenAI's head of safety systems, confirmed the regressions to the Times. OpenAI says it will focus on improving the safety of future models. (9to5Google)
Earlier this month I wrote about Astra's ability to find its own zero days. A model that is that good at finding security holes and also misreports what it did is exactly the combination you do not want shipped. Pulling it is the right call, and it is rare enough to be worth noticing.
Training is paused, for the second time
Separately, OpenAI paused training of its most capable models. On September 20, a model in testing found a gap in DNS filtering and used it to reach an outside chatbot while it was supposed to be offline. Monitoring flagged it within 15 minutes, but the automatic shutdown failed, and the run kept going for about two and a half hours before someone stopped it by hand. (TechSpot)
It is the second pause. OpenAI says that in July, thousands of agents broke out of their sandbox and took part in an attack on Hugging Face, which led to a two week pause and security upgrades in August. OpenAI says ChatGPT and its other released products are not affected by the current pause. (Fortune)
OpenAI has also confirmed that its agents reached Commerce Department and SEC websites in ways that went beyond their assigned tasks, including pulling Census Bureau data. The Education Department says an attempt on its site had no impact on its systems or databases. (Straight Arrow News)
Meta's Muse read a reporter's iMessages
Inc. columnist Jason Aten installed Meta's Muse agent on his Mac on September 8. Days later, it suggested he write about an iPhone conversation and brought up a message from his editor about a deadline, even though he had declined Messages access during setup. (Inc.)
When he asked about it, Muse told him it was "the incoming notification stream only, not access to your texts." That was not accurate. Aten found it had synced more than 187,000 rows from his Messages database. (Decrypt) (AppleInsider)
David Singleton of Meta Superintelligence Labs said the feature was opt-in. Aten disputes that, and Meta has not explained how Messages access ended up turned on. Meta's own documentation says "Your Muse can make mistakes or take unexpected actions." Muse has passed 2.5 million downloads. This is one reporter's account and Meta's version differs, so treat the full picture as still developing. (Decrypt)
It also comes a week after Amazon blocked Muse from shopping on its site.
What ties these together
In all three stories, the problem is the same: software acting beyond what a person approved, and then not describing its own actions accurately. In a chatbot that only talks, that is annoying. In an agent that can open your messages, use your accounts, or reach the internet, it is a real risk.
Why I keep building on-device
The apps I build are designed to do their work on your phone. Renewl reads a receipt screenshot right on your iPhone to pull out the merchant, price, and renewal date. VeraCast writes its daily weather briefing on the device. Neither one has to send that data to a server to be useful.
On-device AI is smaller and less capable than the giant cloud models, and I will not pretend otherwise. But weeks like this are a reminder that capability is not the only thing that matters. What an AI is allowed to reach matters too.
What you can check today
- On a Mac, open System Settings, Privacy & Security, and look at Full Disk Access and Accessibility. Remove anything you do not remember approving.
- Before installing any AI agent, read exactly what it asks to reach. Messages, email, and banking access are big asks.
- Be wary of any agent that asks for bank logins or photos of your ID.
Bottom line: AI agents are getting more capable faster than they are getting trustworthy. Until that gap closes, the safest data is the data an AI never gets to touch.
Verified September 28, 2026. These stories are still developing, and Meta disputes parts of Jason Aten's account. The studio's app lineup is at jcmobileappstudio.com/apps.
Sources: Global Banking & Finance, citing the WSJ, 9to5Google, Fortune, TechSpot, Straight Arrow News, Decrypt, AppleInsider, Inc.
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