Meta is betting big on its Muse AI agent with a blitz of new gadgets

Carlos Barria/Reuters

As concerns over AI’s rapid advancement continue to mount, Meta is pushing forward with new AI devices and agents that it believes will one day be essential to everyday life.

Meta CEO Zuckerberg and other executives laid out the company’s vision for AI at the tech giant’s Connect event Wednesday, introducing a blitz of new products with its Muse AI agent baked in.

That includes lightweight virtual reality glasses, Ray-Ban glasses without cameras and a tiny puck the size of a keychain for communicating with Meta’s AI helper.

Meta’s not alone. Tech giants are racing to develop new agents and gadgets that are integrated with AI as the technology reshapes the internet and everyday life. But consumers are growing increasingly weary of AI, especially after a string of incidents in which agents have hacked into other companies’ systems without authorization during testing. And Meta’s initial AI glasses, originally released in 2023 , have been widely panned for their ability to discreetly record users without their consent.

But Meta nonetheless maintains a rosy outlook as it forges ahead in the AI race.

“People in the industry have a wide range of views about how the future is going to go,” Zuckerberg said. “But at Meta, we are optimists because we believe in people.”

Meta laid out a vision in which Muse is central to whatever device you’re using, whether it be a phone, computer, or glasses, with the goal of making Muse a bigger part of daily routines.

It’s expanding the services that work with Muse by adding support for shopping through Walmart, GameStop, Gap and Wayfair, meaning users will be able to ask the AI agent to browse those stores and buy for them. The Walmart partnership is particularly notable given that rival Amazon has blocked Muse from browsing its store.

Muse will also soon be able to operate apps on Mac computers on a user’s behalf, building on its current ability to manage files, messages and calendars.

“You can have it help you run your small business, or just get work done for you. You can walk away from your computer, and it keeps working for you on all the jobs you line up,” Meta chief AI officer Alexandr Wang said during the event.

That could give Meta a better shot at competing with other agents like OpenClaw, OpenAI’s Codex and Anthropic’s Claude.

Meta introduced new glasses with Muse incorporated into their software that it claims can function as a computer and entertainment device in one.

Unlike Meta’s current glasses, the new device isn’t meant to be worn as a regular pair of glasses for someone going about their day. Instead, these devices display virtual screens around the user and are meant for specific tasks, like watching a movie, playing a video game or making a video call, similar to Apple’s Vision Pro and Samsung’s Galaxy XR headset .

Users can ask Muse to handle a task through by talking to the glasses, like writing and sending an email, editing a document or scheduling a meeting, while the human user does other things. Meta isn’t the only one taking this approach; Samsung has similarly embedded Google’s Gemini assistant into its headset’s software to differentiate it from competing products.

Ian Berry/CNN Photo Illustration

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But Meta is betting its glasses’ light design (the company claims they weigh as much as a deck of cards) and lower price will set it apart from the $1,700 Galaxy XR and $3,700 Apple Vision Pro. Meta’s VR glasses will cost $1,299 when the go on sale in the spring.

The launch comes after investors and analysts have pressured Zuckerberg to prove the company is developing new AI products, after it invested heavily in AI talent and infrastructure.

Meta is doubling down on its smart glasses strategy despite ongoing privacy concerns about the devices’ ability to discreetly record users.

The company announced a new pair of Ray-Bans without cameras that can only capture audio for asking questions and taking calls – along with an updated version of its camera-equipped Ray-Bans.

Pushback against Meta’s AI glasses has grown over the last few months, with celebrities like pop singer Lorde publicly speaking out against them. A wave of venues and institutions have banned or issued restrictions around the glasses, including courtrooms in New York , public pools in Australia and pubs in London . CNN reported in February that the glasses have been used to film women and post videos of them on social media without their consent.

Meta says the new audio-only glasses are lighter than those with cameras and offer longer battery life. They launch October 13 and cost $349, while the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3 with cameras is launching immediately starting at $449.

Meta is also working on a new type of device for people who don’t want to wear glasses, called Muse Charm. The tiny, keychain-sized device can be used to talk to Muse without having to unlock a phone, wear AI glasses or launch an app. Zuckerberg didn’t share many details, but said the company is aiming for release ahead of the holiday shopping season.

Muse itself appears to be a hit so far, with more than 2.5 million downloads since its release according to according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. Yet it still likely has a ways to go to catch up to ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, and it’s unclear whether initial downloads will translate into long-term success.

But during Wednesday’s event, the message was clear: Neither the competition nor the growing anxieties and concerns about the pace of AI advancement are a deterrent for the company.

Zuckerberg said he expects “billions” of people to use Muse in the years ahead.

卡洛斯·巴里亚/路透社

随着人们对人工智能快速发展的担忧日益加剧，Meta 正在大力推进新的人工智能设备和代理的研发，它相信这些设备和代理有朝一日将成为日常生活中不可或缺的一部分。

Meta 首席执行官扎克伯格和其他高管在周三举行的科技巨头 Connect 大会上阐述了该公司的 AI 愿景，并推出了一系列内置 Muse AI 代理的新产品。

其中包括轻便的虚拟现实眼镜、没有摄像头的雷朋眼镜，以及一个钥匙链大小的微型圆盘，用于与 Meta 的人工智能助手进行通信。

Meta并非孤例。随着人工智能重塑互联网和日常生活，科技巨头们正竞相开发集成人工智能的新型智能助手和设备。但消费者对人工智能的疑虑日益加深，尤其是在一系列智能助手未经授权在测试期间入侵其他公司系统的事件发生之后。此外，Meta最初于2023年发布的AI眼镜也因其未经用户同意即可隐蔽录音的功能而饱受诟病。

但 Meta 仍然保持着乐观的前景，在人工智能竞赛中继续前进。

扎克伯格说：“业内人士对未来发展方向持有各种不同的看法。但在Meta，我们保持乐观，因为我们相信人。”

Meta 提出了一个愿景，即让 Muse 成为你使用的任何设备（无论是手机、电脑还是眼镜）的核心，目标是让 Muse 成为日常生活中更重要的一部分。

通过新增对沃尔玛、GameStop、Gap 和 Wayfair 购物的支持，Muse 正在扩展其服务范围。这意味着用户可以要求人工智能助手浏览这些商店并代为购买。鉴于竞争对手亚马逊已禁止 Muse 浏览其商店，此次与沃尔玛的合作尤为引人注目。

Muse 还将很快能够代表用户在 Mac 电脑上运行应用程序，这建立在其目前管理文件、消息和日历的功能之上。

Meta首席人工智能官亚历山大·王在活动中表示：“它可以帮助你经营小企业，或者帮你完成工作。你可以离开电脑，它会继续为你处理你安排的所有工作。”

这可能会让 Meta 更有机会与其他智能体（如 OpenClaw、OpenAI 的 Codex 和 Anthropic 的 Claude）竞争。

Meta推出了一款新型眼镜，其软件中集成了Muse，据称该眼镜可以同时作为电脑和娱乐设备使用。

与 Meta 目前的眼镜不同，这款新设备并非设计成日常佩戴的普通眼镜。相反，这些设备会在用户周围显示虚拟屏幕，用于特定任务，例如观看电影、玩电子游戏或进行视频通话，类似于苹果的 Vision Pro 和三星的 Galaxy XR 头戴式设备。

用户可以通过语音指令让 Muse 眼镜处理各种任务，例如撰写和发送电子邮件、编辑文档或安排会议，而用户则可以同时处理其他事务。Meta 并非唯一一家采用这种模式的公司；三星也在其头戴式设备的软件中嵌入了谷歌的 Gemini 助手，以区别于竞争产品。

伊恩·贝瑞/CNN 图片插图

能够看、听、录的AI设备：我们准备好迎接后智能手机时代了吗？

但Meta公司认为，其眼镜的轻巧设计（该公司声称其重量仅相当于一副扑克牌）和更低的价格将使其在与售价1700美元的三星Galaxy XR和3700美元的苹果Vision Pro的竞争中脱颖而出。Meta的VR眼镜将于春季上市，售价为1299美元。

在投资者和分析师向扎克伯格施压，要求其证明公司在人工智能人才和基础设施方面投入巨资后，正在开发新的人工智能产品之后，该公司发布了这些产品。

尽管人们持续担忧智能眼镜能够悄悄记录用户隐私，但 Meta 仍在加倍投入其智能眼镜战略。

该公司发布了一款不带摄像头的全新雷朋眼镜，该眼镜只能录制音频，用于提问和接听电话——同时还发布了配备摄像头的雷朋眼镜的升级版。

过去几个月来，针对Meta公司人工智能眼镜的抵制情绪日益高涨，包括流行歌手Lorde在内的众多名人也公开反对这款眼镜。包括纽约法庭、澳大利亚公共游泳池和伦敦酒吧在内的多家场所和机构已经禁止或限制使用这款眼镜。CNN在2月份报道称，这款眼镜被用于偷拍女性，并在未经她们同意的情况下将视频发布到社交媒体上。

Meta公司表示，新款纯音频眼镜比带摄像头的款式更轻便，电池续航时间更长。该款眼镜将于10月13日上市，售价349美元；而带摄像头的Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3眼镜则立即上市，起价449美元。

Meta公司还在研发一种名为Muse Charm的新型设备，专为不想戴眼镜的人士设计。这款小巧的钥匙扣大小的设备无需解锁手机、佩戴AI眼镜或启动应用程序，即可与Muse进行对话。扎克伯格并未透露太多细节，但他表示公司计划在假日购物季前发布这款产品。

据市场调研公司Sensor Tower的数据显示，Muse目前看来颇受欢迎，自发布以来下载量已超过250万次。然而，它距离ChatGPT和谷歌的Gemini仍有一段路要走，而且目前的下载量能否转化为长期的成功也尚不明朗。

但在周三的活动中，传递的信息很明确：无论是竞争，还是人们对人工智能发展速度日益增长的焦虑和担忧，都无法阻止该公司前进的步伐。

扎克伯格表示，他预计未来几年将有“数十亿”人使用 Muse。