Meta unveiled Muse on Tuesday, an artificial intelligence-powered digital assistant designed to perform a variety of tasks autonomously across software applications and websites. The launch marks one of the earliest instances of a major technology company releasing an AI agent aimed at a broad consumer market.
Muse functions similarly to a chatbot, allowing users to communicate with it via natural language commands to complete actions such as sending emails, booking travel reservations, making online purchases, and managing other personal errands. The AI agent is accessible through a dedicated app as well as through WhatsApp, a messaging platform owned by Meta. Additionally, Muse integrates with Meta’s social media services, including Instagram and Facebook, enabling it to tailor its assistance based on user data. It can also connect to various third-party applications like Spotify, Ticketmaster, Shopify, Gmail, and OpenTable to extend its capabilities.
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, described Muse as a “breakthrough” tool intended to work continuously to help users with goals related to health, relationships, finances, and more. Muse is among the first consumer-facing products developed by Meta Superintelligence Labs, an AI focused division established last year to accelerate the company’s presence in artificial intelligence.
Meta has heavily invested in AI research and infrastructure in a bid to compete with industry leaders such as Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic. While the company has seen successes with products such as AI-enabled smart glasses, it has also faced challenges, including criticism over privacy issues and having to temporarily disable its AI image generator on Instagram after concerns about copyright and data use.
The Muse application is available free of charge with limited usage, and users can opt for paid subscriptions at $20 or $100 per month for expanded access. The AI agent requires users to be adults and offers customization options including the ability to assign an avatar and costume name to the assistant. When linked to services like OpenTable or Ticketmaster, Muse can proactively notify users about upcoming events and complete bookings with a single command. The platform also supports payments through Stripe and Shopify, with Meta highlighting that Muse is covered under Stripe’s warranties and return policies in the event of transactional errors.
Despite its advanced functionality, Meta acknowledges that Muse is not infallible and may occasionally make mistakes. The company has emphasized user control over the agent’s actions to prevent users from becoming overwhelmed. To improve reliability, Meta has introduced a bug reporting program with rewards for participants. The company also assures users that personal data accessed by Muse is securely stored on Meta’s cloud infrastructure.
Muse operates on Muse Spark, an AI model Meta released in April under the leadership of Alexandria Wang, Meta’s chief AI officer. While Muse Spark currently lags behind some competitors in performance, Meta plans to launch a more powerful model, internally named Watermelon, in the near future. Further feature updates are also planned, including integration with Meta’s smart glasses equipped with a camera and voice assistant.