Graham Cluley
Cybersecurity researcher and writer working in the industry since the early 1990s, when he wrote the first Windows version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit.
“The liability is yours, I'm afraid, Mr. Banking Customer. If your robot does something stupid with your money, it's not the bank's fault. You are going to have to sort it out between you and your robot.”
Smashing Security · Software Engineering & Infra · November 2026
Context
Cluley was describing a Bank of America email telling customers not to give their banking credentials to AI assistants, and warning that they are responsible for any activity resulting from that access. His guest had just said it sounded like a way to shift liability onto the customer.
Transcript
…we need to tell people this. Clearly, they felt people weren't listening. And they said, if you do share your credentials, this is how they were going to reinforce the message. If you do share your credentials, keep in mind that you are responsible for any activity resulting from that access.
Sounds like a way to shift liability to the customer.
Absolutely. The liability is yours, I'm afraid, Mr. Banking Customer. If your robot does something stupid with your money, it's not the bank's fault. You are going to have to sort it out between you and your robot. So you go and have a chat with your robot as to how you're going to fix that particular problem. Now, I probably don't need to ask this question, Renee, but have you ever given your banking password to an AI?
No, I'm a big fan of the New York Times podcast, The Daily.
Yes.
And there was recently an episode called Call My AI Agent with Eli Tan, I believe. And he described how he used Meta's Muse and turned over all of these extremely personal details. It seemed like, including the kind of information that BOA was warning its customers about. And the reporter expressed…
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