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ZDNET's key takeaways
Browser extensions are tracking more of your data.
Many AI productivity tools are collecting tons of personal information.
Users should be wary of unjustifiable permissions requests.
Browser extensions have increasingly been a security risk as publishers get sneakier about the code they can hide in them. AI is only increasing that threat, especially when it comes to tracking user data -- and some of your most commonly used apps are doing a lot of the scraping.
New research from data removal service Incogni finds that more than half of a sample set of AI Chrome extensions collect user data. Almost a third are "gathering personally identifiable information (PII)."
"These were downloaded around 115.5 million times, meaning they could collectively have as many users," writes Incogni, one of ZDNET's favorite data removal services.
Also: 5 browser extension rules to live by to keep your system safe in 2025
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