What can an AI agent do with
View Google Contacts?
The agent can see and download your Google Contacts. It cannot change or delete them.
How to spot it
On a Google Workspace connection or settings screen, this is https://www.googleapis.com/auth/contacts.readonly.
With it, an agent can
- List all your contacts
- Search your contacts by name, email, phone or company
- Download contact details
It cannot, on its own
- Add, change or delete contacts
- See the Other contacts list Google builds from your past emails
What a bad day looks like
Your customer list, with names, emails and phone numbers, could leak if the agent or its company is breached.
Set it up safer
- Keep personal contacts in a separate Google account from your business contacts.
Ask the company selling the agent
- Do you copy my contact list to your servers?
- Will you ever email or message my contacts?
- How do I delete my data when I stop using you?
Source
Checked against Google Workspace documentation on 2026-09-28. All Google Workspace permissions →
Thinking about a specific agent?
Tell us what it connects to, what it is allowed to do and who approves its work. You get a plain-language label of what it can touch and what to ask the seller. It takes a couple of minutes, and your answers stay in your browser unless you choose to post a test job.
Or have a person go through the AI apps on up to 3 of your business services with you and get a written report, for $249.
This page explains what a permission allows. It does not describe, test or rate any product. Permission details are summarized in our own words from the provider's documentation, linked on the page; providers change their documentation, so check the source before you rely on a detail.