Meta has surprised investors and the tech industry with the launch of a hit artificial intelligence bot for everyday tasks.
The company, long seen as an AI laggard, launched its personal AI agent Muse earlier this month. It was designed for users without special tech skills and already has millions of downloads.
Most AI agents that can independently do tasks have targeted sophisticated users. The open-source AI assistant OpenClaw went viral in January, but using it required a certain level of technical knowledge, creating a barrier for ordinary consumers.
Meta’s Muse attempts to let average users manage their own digital assistants through simple prompts and an easy-to-navigate interface.
It can handle tasks like sending an email, booking travel, filling out forms or negotiating on behalf of a user. The basic plan is free, but more powerful subscriptions cost up to $100 a month.
“They’re really trying to come across as a differentiator against some of the AI agents in the market,” said Kara Lee, a senior analyst at market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.
Muse has climbed the charts — as of Monday, it sat in the No. 1 slot for free apps in Apple’s App Store, beating out OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Muse has amassed more than 2.5 million U.S. downloads since launching Sept. 8, according to data from Sensor Tower.
Meta’s surprise success helped lift its shares more than 10% on Monday. They cooled slightly on Tuesday, slipping 1% to $736.60.
Meta has been judged harshly for spending billions of dollars on AI without becoming a leader in the technology, so Muse’s popularity surprised some, according to Jefferies senior analyst Brent Thill.
“The company has done a good job of launching a really good product,” he said.
It remains to be seen whether this initial interest will continue and grow and whether people will trust it with their personal data.
For Muse to become a lasting consumer product, analysts said, Meta will need to keep expanding what the agent can do and give people reasons to keep coming back.
“I don’t know if Muse is going to reach billions and billions of people,” said Seema Shah, vice president of insights at Sensor Tower.
Muse’s rise has already triggered a debate over who decides what personal AI agents are allowed to do.
Amazon blocked Muse from its platform Monday.
The e-commerce giant said it was not aware of the agent in advance, nor did it authorize Muse to access its site. It alleged that Muse appeared to capture and store customer credentials without identifying itself as an AI agent.
“Third-party applications that offer to make purchases on behalf of customers from other businesses should operate openly and respect service provider decisions about whether or not to participate,” an Amazon spokesperson said in an email.
Meta did not respond to requests for comment. Its launch announcement said user credentials “go into secure storage” and “Muse has no visibility into people’s passwords or payment methods.”
Other e-commerce platforms have embraced Muse.
“We are excited to announce we are partnering deeply with Muse to enable agentic checkout with Shop Pay on all Shopify stores, offering people an easy and delightful way to shop and check out with Muse,” wrote Shopify Chief Executive Tobias Lütke in a post on X.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg indicated that similar partnerships were in the works.
“The competition for who I trust to be my shopping agent is on,” said Andrew Frank, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “It’s really about who controls the experience.”
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