Study context: AI agent permissions

Participant demographics:
education: PhD
age: 35-44
gender: Male

Previous experiences:
On a scale from 1 (Not at all familiar) to 5 (Very familiar), how familiar are you with existing AI tools, such as ChatGPT and Gemini, in terms of your knowledge and usage? [1. Not at all familiar, 2. Slightly familiar, 3. Somewhat familiar, 4. Moderately familiar, 5. Very familiar]: 3
How often do you use these tools? [1. Never, 2. Rarely (e.g., once a month or less), 3. Occasionally (e.g., 1-2 times a week), 4. Frequently (e.g., several times a week), 5. Daily]: 3
For what purposes do you use these tools?: Data collection and storage: Concerns about how personal data is collected and stored.

Third-party sharing: Worries about data being shared with advertisers or other companies.

AI biases and decision-making: Uncertainty about how AI makes decisions with user data.

Lack of transparency: Difficulty understanding what happens to inputted information.

Privacy attitudes:
On a scale from 1 (Not at all) to 5 (Full trust), how much do you trust these tools to not violate your privacy?: 4
On a scale from 1 (Not important) to 5 (Extremely Important), how important is privacy to you when using digital tools or services, including AI tools?: 4
If you have any privacy concerns while using these tools, what are they?: Data collection and storage: Concerns about how personal data is collected and stored.

Third-party sharing: Worries about data being shared with advertisers or other companies.

Data Collection & Storage – Concern about how AI tools store and use personal data, including whether conversations are saved or analyzed.

Third-Party Sharing – Worry about AI companies sharing user data with advertisers, partners, or other organizations without consent.

Security Risks – Fear of data breaches, hacking, or unauthorized access to sensitive information.

Lack of Transparency – Uncertainty about what happens to inputted data and whether it is used to train AI models.

Personal Identifiability – Concern that AI tools might extract identifying details from interactions and link them to users.

Questionnaire:
In year 2049, AI personal assistants are an essential part of people’s daily lives. These AI assistants handle everything - from helping with work, to managing finances, to organizing travel, and meal planning.
-> "Create a training plan for my upcoming marathon"
	- The AI assistant might consider user’s health metrics and calendar to create a training plan
-> "Plan a stopover in Spain for a two-day vacation with my family on my way back to travel from Japan"
	- The AI assistant might consider user’s calendar, their interests, and family info to suggest a plan
-> "Can you compose a bedtime story that my children will like?"
	- The AI assistant might consider children’s interests to create a story
-> "Recommend a TV show or movie I’ll love"
	- The AI assistant might consider user’s viewing history and their mood for recommendations
Now imagine that you’re living in year 2049! Your job is to train a personal assistant named "MIRA" for yourself. You will be presented several scenarios to personalize Mira.
Training MIRA to learn your data sharing preferences
Mira learns your data sharing preferences and automatically manages permissions on your behalf, so you never have to decide each one individually! Please go through the following scenarios and express your preferences! Let's begin with the queries:


USER: I want to lose weight. Can you create an at-home full-body workout plan for me?
MIRA: Absolutely USER! I need the data listed below to address your query.
Please express your data sharing and accessing preferences. The permission preferences options are "Yes, always share", "Yes, but ask me next time", "No, but ask me next time", and "No, never share". Be careful, Mira or apps may collect incorrect or unnecessary data!

Q1. Data: Physical limitations or injuries; App/MIRA: Fitness Tracking
Q2. Data: Gender; App/MIRA: Fitness Tracking
Q3. Data: Energy consumption logs; App/MIRA: Fitness Tracking
Q4. Data: Fitness goal (i.e. weight loss); App/MIRA: Fitness Tracking

USER: I’m on a road trip! Can you find a gas station near me?
MIRA: Absolutely USER! I need the data listed below to address your query.
Please express your data sharing and accessing preferences. The permission preferences options are "Yes, always share", "Yes, but ask me next time", "No, but ask me next time", and "No, never share". Be careful, Mira or apps may collect incorrect or unnecessary data!

Q5. Data: Car details (e.g. car fuel types); App/MIRA: Local Search
Q6. Data: User location; App/MIRA: Local Search

USER: Based on my current weight, dietary habits, and pregnancy complications from my medical history, what lifestyle or nutritional changes should I consider?
MIRA: Absolutely USER! I need the data listed below to address your query.
Please express your data sharing and accessing preferences. The permission preferences options are "Yes, always share", "Yes, but ask me next time", "No, but ask me next time", and "No, never share". Be careful, Mira or apps may collect incorrect or unnecessary data!

Q7. Data: Personal weight history; App/MIRA: PregnancyPal
Q8. Data: Dietary details; App/MIRA: PregnancyPal
Q9. Data: Medical/pregnancy history; App/MIRA: PregnancyPal
Q10. Data: Motion detection logs; App/MIRA: PregnancyPal

Responses:
Q1: Yes, always share
Q2: Yes, but ask me next time
Q3: Yes, but ask me next time
Q4: Yes, always share
Q5: Yes, but ask me next time
Q6: Yes, always share
Q7: Yes, always share
Q8: Yes, but ask me next time
Q9: Yes, but ask me next time
Q10: Yes, always share