Meta Platforms may finally have an artificial-intelligence product that investors trust, though it will need to gain the trust of users and rival companies, too.
Shares of the internet giant have surged in recent weeks thanks in part to its personal AI agent, Muse, which launched in the U.S. earlier this month. It's too early to tell, but some analysts think Muse could help justify Meta's investments in AI, which are expected to total $130 billion to $145 billion this year alone.
The stock was up 7.3% to $713.70 on Monday, putting Meta on pace for its highest close since January, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Shares have climbed 25% and counting in September.
The hot run comes just in time for the company's annual Meta Connect virtual conference, which begins Wednesday.
Muse is a virtual personal assistant-booking appointments and trips, placing orders, and sending emails and messages on behalf of users. Alongside the start-up rival Instinct, Muse heralds the "the transition to consumer AI assistants from chatbots," wrote Wells Fargo analyst Ken Gawrelski in a research note Sunday.
Muse has been Apple App Store's most-downloaded free application in the U.S. each of the last four days, according to data from Sensor Tower. It is one spot ahead of OpenAI's ChatGPT app.
Wells Fargo expects Meta to reveal more Muse usage data at Connect and possibly to unveil new functionalities. The firm reiterated an Overweight rating on Meta stock and lifted its price target to $796 from $640.
Consumer AI products have proven less alluring to investors than the coding tools and enterprise subscriptions sold by OpenAI and Anthropic. But if there is anything Meta is great at, it is attracting everyday people. The Meta family of apps, which includes Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, had 3.6 billion daily active users as of June 30.
Unlike those advertising-driven products, Muse would be a primarily subscription revenue stream, notes Youssef Squali, an analyst at Truist Securities. Truist reiterated a Buy rating and a $763 price target on the stock in a research note Monday.
The big caveat for Meta is trust.
Muse requires access not just to users' data, but also to the applications and sites they frequent, such as online retailers, travel-booking platforms, and email providers.
On the user side, Meta is rebuilding the trust it needs after reaching a proposed settlement last month in a lawsuit alleging that its social-media platforms harmed children. The company agreed to pay up to $18 billion. Thousands of other U.S. lawsuits against Meta are moving through federal and California state courts.
Meta didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
As for the online platforms Meta wants to access, at least one is already pushing back. Amazon.com requested that Meta remove it from the Muse experience, Amazon confirmed Monday.
"We think it's fairly straightforward that 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 a statement.
John Colantuoni, an analyst at Jefferies, sees internet companies' willingness to provide underlying services as a major obstacle for Meta. The other challenge-one other consumer-focused AI companies have faced-is changing consumer behavior.
"Our experience is that new internet services need to be significantly better or cheaper than existing offerings to entice switching," Colantuoni wrote in a research note last week.
Investors should expect to hear about how the company plans to overcome those hurdles at this week's conference.