Meta’s Muse Gains Users Amid AI Expansion Concerns

Meta’s Muse personal AI agent reportedly surpassed 2.5 million downloads in its first two weeks, reached the top of Apple’s U.S. App Store and helped lift Meta’s stock, prompting analyst optimism about revenue beyond advertising. The agent can perform digital tasks such as research, shopping and travel booking through connected services; PayPal and Shopify are expanding commerce capabilities, while Amazon has blocked Muse from shopping on its platform. Meta is also expanding Muse through smart glasses and a planned wearable charm, though investors remain concerned about monetization, privacy, data access and the company’s heavy AI spending. Meta tested human contractors placing some calls for Muse after AI callers encountered reliability and trust issues; the company says the feature remains in internal testing and would require disclosures before release, amid concerns about sensitive information and an alleged racist comment by a contractor. Mark Zuckerberg has rejected calls for an industry-wide pause in AI development, saying individual labs should slow or stop work when they identify safety problems.