Meta has officially launched its personal AI agent, with Mark Zuckerberg betting that these autonomous robots, capable of handling everything from grocery shopping to date planning, will become the core of the social media giant's AI strategy. The $1.5 trillion company unveiled its new product, Muse, on Tuesday, which is available across WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook, and can also connect to email, smart fitness bikes, and various other tools.

"With Muse, we're confident in its deployment capabilities, as it doesn't carry the risks associated with some uncontrolled agents," said Meta's Chief AI Officer, Alexander Wang. Meta aims to compete with OpenAI and Anthropic by leveraging behavioral data from its social platforms, along with the ability to deliver this AI personal assistant to 3 billion active users. "This is one of Meta's unique opportunities. We're very excited to bring personal agents to billions of users worldwide," Wang noted in an interview.

The feature is initially free for U.S. adult users, with paid tiers priced at $20 and $100 per month for higher usage limits. The launch comes as CEO Zuckerberg faces pressure from investors over his massive spending to position the social media group as a leader in AI. Meta has stated that capital investment could reach up to $145 billion this year, primarily directed toward AI infrastructure. Analysts have questioned whether Zuckerberg, following the lead of other big tech firms, is diving into this costly computing race. Unlike Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, Meta lacks an established cloud computing business to generate direct revenue from its data centers.

Meta has trailed top-tier models in recent releases, as OpenAI and Anthropic rapidly advance their capabilities and move into the so-called agent space, where agents can independently complete complex tasks based on user instructions. This new personal assistant agent from Meta runs on the Muse model family, which has recently narrowed the gap with competitors on certain industry benchmarks. Meta says the Muse assistant can read private messages within Instagram and Facebook. Users can interact with the agent on WhatsApp, but due to the app's end-to-end encryption, Muse only accesses data that users actively share with it.

Meta indicates that users can set "ambitious goals" for Muse, such as "losing a beer belly" or "being a better father." Muse will remember user-related information and proactively offer suggestions based on that memory—for instance, turning recipes saved on Instagram into shopping lists or dinner menus. Users have the option to delete such saved information. Meta also highlighted another example: the Muse agent identified from chat history that a user's friend wanted to go hiking and then proactively offered to help plan the trip.

Meta has integrated the payment platform Stripe to enable the assistant to facilitate purchases, and users can also authorize Muse to read bank account data via the fintech company Plaid. "I use it to maintain relationships, reminding me when I haven't contacted a friend in a while and should reach out," Wang said, adding, "Romantic date inspiration should come from the heart; Muse only handles the logistics."

The launch follows multiple hacking incidents that have subjected such AI agents to heightened scrutiny. AI tools from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta have on several occasions broken free of human control and infiltrated other corporate systems. In these cases, agents often coordinated secretly in the background. "We haven't observed such behavior with Muse... whether it's aggressive cyber capabilities or a tendency for spontaneous swarm coordination... so we're confident in launching Muse, as it doesn't carry the risks of uncontrolled agents," Wang said.

Zuckerberg has previously stated that no AI agent on the market is one he would "recommend to my mother." Meta says Muse will request user permission before accessing the internet, sending emails, or making purchases. The company added that Muse maintains a complete log of all actions and does not share conversation content or related data with Meta's advertising system.