Meta is bringing its hot new AI agent Muse to its smart glasses.
The move, announced Wednesday at its annual Connect conference in Menlo Park, California, gives Meta a new way to put Muse directly in front of users throughout the day.
Muse has become a fast-rising entrant in the increasingly competitive AI agent market: software that can take actions on a person's behalf, rather than merely answer questions or generate text. Instead of opening an app or sitting down at a computer, people could eventually ask Muse for help through a pair of glasses already on their face.
With a connection to your Muse personal AI agent, Meta's glasses "offer more ways than ever to help you manage daily life, whether you're building healthy habits or navigating a busy calendar, all without reaching for your phone," the company said in an announcement.
At Connect, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company will "start upgrading the AI experience on Meta glasses" in the coming weeks.
The announcement makes clear that the company sees its hardware business as important for the agent, which launched earlier this month and quickly rose to the top of the App Store charts, beating rivals like ChatGPT.
Meta's broader hardware blitz at Connect also included Ray-Ban Meta Audio, a new audio-focused pair of glasses. It said it expects to offer more than 100 styles across Ray-Ban, Oakley, and Meta Glasses by the end of the year. It also announced Meta VR Glasses, which it said will offer a more immersive way to watch movies, play games, and work in virtual reality, and will go on sale next spring.
Meta is waging a bigger battle over AI agents. Already, Muse can browse the web, make calls, shop, and handle other chores. Meta has also announced partnerships with companies including Shopify, PayPal, Expedia, and Instacart.
That puts Meta in a heated race with startups such as Instinct, an invite-only personal AI assistant founded by 23-year-old Noah Shinn. Instinct launched before Muse and quickly caught on with Silicon Valley, turning the tiny startup into an unlikely rival for Meta.
Personal AI agents are still early products, with uneven results. In a recent hands-on review, Business Insider's Katie Notopoulos found that Muse could help organize an inbox and identify subscriptions, while it struggled with school forms, medical scheduling, and some online checkouts.
Muse also faces resistance from the websites and services they are meant to navigate. Earlier this week, Amazon blocked Muse from its shopping site, signaling that some companies may not embrace agents as readily as users do.
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