What to know about Meta's Muse AI agent
The app's advertised features have some experts concerned about privacy.
Meta’s Muse, an artificial-intelligence agent that can order groceries online or call customer service on a user’s behalf, marks the tech giant’s latest foray into the competitive AI market, offering customers a digital assistant with the capacity to send emails, book appointments and plan travel.
The company has moved to provide Muse on additional devices. At an annual conference on Wednesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled Muse Charm, a keychain-size device that allows users to interact with the AI agent phone-free. The company also said Muse would come to their Meta glasses smart glasses over the coming months.
Regardless of concerns about AI in general, shares of Meta have climbed nearly 25% in value since the release of Muse earlier this month.
Here's what you need to know about Muse, how people are using it and what some critics are saying about it.
What is Meta’s Muse?
Muse is an AI-fueled agent that Meta says interacts with users and completes tasks for them.
Like other popular AI chatbots, users who download the app can type comments and questions in a back-and-forth dialogue with Muse. Muse can also fulfill requests such as buying movie tickets for an upcoming screening or organizing a user’s social calendar.
Zuckerberg on Wednesday also announced Muse Realtime Avatar, a feature that allows users to converse in real time with the app via an AI avatar of their choosing.
“You can have long conversations and Muse will work in the background and get things done,” Zuckerberg said in a social media post.
Users have posted on social media about a variety of tasks completed with Muse. One user said Muse helped identify and cancel forgotten subscriptions, while another said Muse negotiated a lower internet bill.
Other examples of assistance from Muse include product returns, navigation of automated customer service instructions and resolving unpaid parking tickets.
What are the privacy concerns surrounding Meta’s Muse?
Some observers have raised privacy concerns about Muse, taking issue with the prospect of an AI agent gaining access to a user's smartphone apps, financial information and personal data.
Tate Jarrow, a cybersecurity consultant, pointed to the intimate nature of user data that might be accessed by Muse. "I would not trust Meta with this level of access and control of one’s personal information," he wrote in a Substack post last week, pointing to what he said is the company's problematic history of safeguarding user data.
Patrick Wardle, co-founder of the nonprofit Objective-See foundation, focused on Apple device and macOS security, said the very access to personal information that Muse needs to function "can let local malware/attackers invisibly hijack" a user's "digital life" and advises users not to install it.
Amazon, meanwhile, denied Muse access to its website, alerting users of Muse that “unauthorized AI” violates the terms of Amazon’s Conditions of Use, according to screenshots of the pop-up message posted on social media.
In a video posted on Facebook earlier this month, Zuckerberg said the company equipped Muse with privacy protections aimed at safeguarding user information.
“To make sure you can tell Muse what matters to you, we designed it from the ground up for privacy and security,” Zuckerberg said.
Zuckerberg noted, for instance, a “secure credential store” for passwords and credit cards “so Muse can’t read this information.”
“We're going to roll out an even higher standard of security for those who want it where even Meta can't access the information in your Muse agent,” Zuckerberg added.
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