Meta Introduces Muse, an A.I. Agent That Can Send Your Emails and Book Your Travel

Meta on Tuesday rolled out Muse, an artificial intelligence agent that acts as a personal digital assistant by autonomously using software apps and websites on behalf of people.

It is one of the first times that a major tech company has introduced a mass market agent, which is a type of A.I. that researchers predict will become more sophisticated than simple chatbots. Many agents can already do the tasks of office workers, like filling out spreadsheets. But while A.I. agents like OpenClaw are a popular tool among developers and programmers, they have yet to catch on widely.

Muse can be spoken to as if it were a chatbot and instructed to send emails, book travel reservations, make online purchases and do more through an app or through WhatsApp, which Meta owns, the company said. Muse also connects to Meta’s other apps, like Instagram and Facebook, to learn more about its user. And it can be linked to third-party apps like Spotify, Ticketmaster, Shopify, Gmail and OpenTable.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, has described Muse as Meta’s next breakthrough, which works “24/7 on your behalf to help achieve your goals and improve your life, your health, your relationships, your finances.”

Muse is among the first significant consumer A.I. products created by Meta Superintelligence Labs, which Mr. Zuckerberg established last year to propel his company forward in the A.I. race. Meta has been spending billions of dollars to develop foundational A.I. models and to build data centers so that it can compete with Google, OpenAI, Anthropic and others on the cutting edge of the rapidly evolving technology.

So far, Meta has had hits and misses. Products like its A.I. smart glasses have sold millions of pairs while stoking privacy concerns. In July, the company temporarily took down its Instagram A.I. image generator after widespread criticism about copyright and privacy.