title: Towards Trustworthy GUI Agents: A Survey
summary: GUI agents, powered by large foundation models, can interact with digital
  interfaces, enabling various applications in web automation, mobile navigation,
  and software testing. However, their increasing autonomy has raised critical
  concerns about their security, privacy, and safety. This survey examines the
  trustworthiness of GUI agents in five critical dimensions: security
  vulnerabilities, reliability in dynamic environments, transparency and
  explainability, ethical considerations, and evaluation methodologies. We also
  identify major challenges such as vulnerability to adversarial attacks,
  cascading failure modes in sequential decision-making, and a lack of realistic
  evaluation benchmarks. These issues not only hinder real-world deployment but
  also call for comprehensive mitigation strategies beyond task success. As GUI
  agents become more widespread, establishing robust safety standards and
  responsible development practices is essential. This survey provides a
  foundation for advancing trustworthy GUI agents through systematic
  understanding and future research.
paper_authors._id: 67ecf47dd0f4d6684e0fb7e4
paper_authors.name: Yucheng Shi
paper_authors.status: admin_assigned
paper_authors.statusLastChangedAt: 2025-04-02T12:28:32.523Z
paper_authors._id: 64beb6b6140491ca9f803ebf
paper_authors.avatarUrl: /avatars/0daa2e813a13668b8b708cd8c12763d9.svg
paper_authors.fullname: Yucheng SHi
paper_authors.type: user
paper_authors.user: YuchengShi
paper_authors._id: 67ecf47dd0f4d6684e0fb7e5
paper_authors.name: Wenhao Yu
paper_authors._id: 67ecf47dd0f4d6684e0fb7e6
paper_authors.name: Wenlin Yao
paper_authors.status: admin_assigned
paper_authors.statusLastChangedAt: 2025-04-02T12:28:50.560Z
paper_authors._id: 634f18e4aae4bde2c8e2adca
paper_authors.avatarUrl: /avatars/40549a59fc5ba04a4baa5a1d5dba0847.svg
paper_authors.fullname: Wenlin Yao
paper_authors.type: user
paper_authors.user: wenlinyao
paper_authors._id: 67ecf47dd0f4d6684e0fb7e7
paper_authors.name: Wenhu Chen
paper_authors.status: admin_assigned
paper_authors.statusLastChangedAt: 2025-04-02T12:28:56.387Z
paper_authors._id: 6313a86154e6e5d9f0f94e04
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paper_authors.fullname: Wenhu Chen
paper_authors.type: user
paper_authors.user: wenhu
paper_authors._id: 67ecf47dd0f4d6684e0fb7e8
paper_authors.name: Ninghao Liu
paper_authors.status: admin_assigned
paper_authors.statusLastChangedAt: 2025-04-02T12:29:04.216Z
paper_authors._id: 67baa6c519e9dba50ece56b1
paper_authors.avatarUrl: https://cdn-avatars.huggingface.co/v1/production/uploads/no-auth/F3ZmRr7nCzfSVbpS4SY1E.png
paper_authors.fullname: Ninghao Liu
paper_authors.type: user
paper_authors.user: NeoLiu43
paper_title: Towards Trustworthy GUI Agents: A Survey
paper_summary: GUI agents, powered by large foundation models, can interact with digital
  interfaces, enabling various applications in web automation, mobile navigation,
  and software testing. However, their increasing autonomy has raised critical
  concerns about their security, privacy, and safety. This survey examines the
  trustworthiness of GUI agents in five critical dimensions: security
  vulnerabilities, reliability in dynamic environments, transparency and
  explainability, ethical considerations, and evaluation methodologies. We also
  identify major challenges such as vulnerability to adversarial attacks,
  cascading failure modes in sequential decision-making, and a lack of realistic
  evaluation benchmarks. These issues not only hinder real-world deployment but
  also call for comprehensive mitigation strategies beyond task success. As GUI
  agents become more widespread, establishing robust safety standards and
  responsible development practices is essential. This survey provides a
  foundation for advancing trustworthy GUI agents through systematic
  understanding and future research.
paper_ai_summary: GUI agents powered by large foundation models interact with digital interfaces but face challenges in security, reliability, transparency, ethics, and evaluation.
paper_ai_keywords: GUI agents large foundation models security vulnerabilities reliability dynamic environments transparency explainability ethical considerations evaluation methodologies adversarial attacks cascading failure modes evaluation benchmarks