MetaâÂÂs personal AI agent Muse is only a few weeks old, and the social networking giant isnâÂÂt wasting any time building out what may be its biggest bet on consumer AI to date.ÃÂ
CEO Mark Zuckerberg kicked off the companyâÂÂs annual Connect event in Menlo Park on Wednesday with a keynote that made one thing clear: Meta is going all-in on Muse.ÃÂ
The Muse agent (the physical avatar is named Jolly, according to Zuckerberg) is designed to handle everyday tasks by connecting to usersâ apps and services, including email and calendars. At Connect, Zuckerberg introduced a slew of new capabilities and integrations to make Muse more useful and more deeply woven into usersâ daily lives. Muse will be everywhere, if the user chooses, including on their Meta AI glasses.ÃÂ
Muse, which launched in early September, interacts across a userâÂÂs devices and digital accounts. The agent is powered by Muse Spark, MetaâÂÂs multimodal AI model built for agentic work. Meta has touted it as a more accessible agent than those offered by competitors â an AI helper that, from the jump, allows users to automate the busy work in their lives.ÃÂ
âÂÂThe centerpiece of our vision for what weâÂÂre building is Muse,â Zuckerberg said as he kicked off a keynote donning khakis and a black T-shirt with the words âÂÂBuilding is My love Languageâ emblazoned across the front. âÂÂIn the coming years, I expect that Muse is going to grow into the personal superintelligence that billions of people around the world are going to use to accomplish their goals and improve their lives.âÂÂ
Zuckerberg also believes that Muse will make money for its users â and of course, eventually for Meta.
âÂÂWeâÂÂre standing behind this by making Muse free for a huge number of tokens, with the expectation that over time we will profit by taking a small fee from transactions,â he said.
Here are the new features and capabilities that got our attention â¦
Muse gets its own digital avatar
One of the more fun announcements made Wednesday is that Muse users will soon have the ability to conjure a distinct digital avatar for their particular agent and then video chat with it in real time. A new AI model, Muse Realtime Avatar, has been developed to power the particular feature, the company says.
The idea is that MetaâÂÂs previously faceless AI software will be given a face, body, and voice, making them significantly more personable. ThereâÂÂs certainly a hint of Metaverse-ishness to this feature, which was demoed on stage at Connect. Users will be able to have live conversations with this avatar, giving it tasks and asking it questions.ÃÂ
Muse will soon be active in Meta smart glasses
Muse will also be integrated with MetaâÂÂs smart glasses line, the company announced. This means that users will be able to communicate with their agent merely by speaking to their glasses. The agent activates via a wake word, the company said, adding that it will be able to guide users through a personalized workout, log meals, book an appointment, and help them buy products they see.ÃÂ
Meta said Muse will work in the background and check back in when itâÂÂs done.
ItâÂÂs not clear exactly when this feature will become available, although Meta says that it should launch sometime in âÂÂthe coming months.âÂÂÃÂ
Soon, youâÂÂll be able to let Muse run your Mac
Meta says it is bringing Muse computer work to Mac. The company had previously talked about Muse coming to Mac, and spent more time on Wednesday providing a few new details. This means that users will be able to delegate tasks to the agent, and â much like other popular AI agents from OpenAI and Anthropic â Muse will be able to operate any app on a userâÂÂs desktop.
âÂÂYou can have it help you run your small business, or just get work done for you,â MetaâÂÂs chief AI officer Alexandr Wang said Wednesday during the keynote. âÂÂYou can walk away from your computer and it keeps working for you on all the jobs you lined up.âÂÂ
Muse will get its own email address
Since Muse will always be working in the background, it will naturally need its own email address. MetaâÂÂs Wang announced it is developing that feature and will make it available âÂÂsoon,â without providing a more precise timeline.
Users will also be able to add Muse to an email thread or forward emails from the agent to handle on their behalf.
Shopping partnerships and connectors galore
Meta has locked in partnerships with companies like Stripe and Shopify, illustrating that the company sees Muse as an important tool for shopping.
Muse can access the entire Shopify product catalog agentically and use Lync and now Shop Pay to buy almost anything on the internet, according to Wang, who noted that Meta has also added more support for payments with PayPal.
The company also announced a string of new partnerships with retailers, including Best Buy, Gap, Sephora, Walmart, and Wayfair. Muse will be able to connect with these retail apps as well as with Expedia and soon, Instacart. Other connectors include GitHub, Granola, and Notion.
Wang noted that the company wants Muse to connect with small business too. Meta recently opened its platform to allow developers to build their own âÂÂconnectors.â The company received more than 1,500 applications in less than week, he said, adding âÂÂI think this could be a generational opportunity to start building for a new platform as it takes off, and the response so far has been really great.âÂÂ
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesnâÂÂt affect our editorial independence.
