This can work, but increasingly there is benefit from local, including places that want data to be secure and not in the cloud. This is a thing. It's normal. It's just new to people who haven't realized how common it is.
I agree, and it's not necessary for agents to run as root and full access to data.
There has always been a trade off sold to consumers of security vs convenience and a belief that giving up a little security gets a lot of convenience.
It ends up being often about a convenience of adopting the new tech, not necessarily in a way that's in the best long term interests of each party.