Why Didn't Google Build Muse?

Google has not shipped a personal assistant agent comparable to Meta's Muse, and its competing Gemini Spark agentic tool remains in testing, limited to US subscribers on Google AI Ultra and Pro tiers, according to Spyglass. Google is also testing a separate agentic product, CC, which works across email, calendar, chats, and tasks and now focuses on family organization such as signing permission slips, creating shopping lists, and crafting weekly meal plans. The author attributes Google's lag to Gemini Spark's unreleased status, the delayed Gemini 3.5 Pro model promised for June, and Google running competing products in the same space.

Why Didn't Google Build Muse? The number one response I've gotten to my thoughts on Meta's Muse personal assistant agent https://spyglass.org/metas-amusing-muse/ is some variation of "I will never trust Meta with my data." But the number two response is arguably more interesting and related : "Why didn't Google build this?" The short answer to this is undoubtedly: they're working on it. But the longer answer is probably more interesting here too. Unlike Meta, Google runs the biggest email service in the world – an email service which contains the most valuable trove of personal information not to mention communication capabilities for a personal assistant AI. And what is probably the biggest calendaring system in the world. They also run the largest search engine in the world. Oh yes, and the largest smartphone platform in the world. Sure, Meta has Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, but Muse can't really work without access to any of these Google services. Depending on where you live, it could probably https://spyglass.org/whatsapp-ban/ work as a sort of WhatsApp personal assistant AI, but Muse would be a shell of what it currently is – again, thanks to the hooks into Gmail, Google Calendar, etc. So yes, Google obviously should have built this And again, they're undoubtedly working on it – a big part of I/O this year was talking up https://spyglass.org/google-io-2026/ 'Gemini Spark' Google's agentic agentic tool not to be confused with 'Muse Spark', which is the AI model https://spyglass.org/meta-muse-spark-ai/ that powers Muse – which really is just an incredibly confusing branding twist , which has been in testing for several weeks now. And yes, it hooks into most of the various Google tools. The problem, as I see it, is three-fold. First , Gemini Spark is not fully released yet. Again, it's in testing, but whether or not you've had access depends on what tier of Google AI you subscribe to – at first it was for 'Ultra' members only, now it's rolling out to 'Pro' users too. It's only in the US, but so is Muse. Whereas Meta blew the doors off in launching and promoting Muse, Google has been, well, timid https://spyglass.org/google-isnt-lazy-its-timid-as-it-sadly-must-be/ in doing so. Maybe it's related to the shakeup of their AI group https://spyglass.org/google-deepmind-hassabis-dean-gemini/ . Or maybe it's because they were waiting on https://spyglass.org/google-gemini-fiasco/ Gemini 3.5 Pro, which was promised for June but still has not launched and seems like it won't be now, as we move towards Gemini 4 . Regardless, no one that has responded to my post seems to know Gemini Spark even exists, which is a problem. Second , related, is that Google once again clearly has competing products in the space. Say hello to ' CC https://labs.google.com/cc/landing?ref=spyglass.org ', which is not Gemini Spark, but another agentic product that Google is working on. Here's Sarah Perez for TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/18/googles-new-cc-is-an-ai-agent-that-helps-families-run-their-households/?ref=spyglass.org : Google is testing a new product designed to help families coordinate with the support of an AI agent. This week, the search giant introduced https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/google-labs/cc-expanding-to-groups/?ref=spyglass.org a new version of CC https://labs.google.com/cc/landing?ref=spyglass.org , an AI agent designed to work across email, calendar, chats, and tasks. With the update, CC now focuses on keeping families organized, planning for the day ahead, and even handling family-specific tasks, like signing permission slips, creating shopping lists, or crafting weekly meal plans. At a high level, that all sounds fine, perhaps even good – focusing on family use-cases could be an interesting inroads for adoption which is the single biggest problem that all of these products face https://spyglass.org/the-swiss-assistant/ . <sup 1</sup one But that should clearly be a feature of Gemini Spark, not an entirely different product This is just going to confuse the already confused market. "Have you tried Google's personal assistant AI?" "Which one?" Which is the most Google problem of all time. Yes, personal AI assistants may very well be the new messaging product pandemic https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/21/22538240/google-chat-allo-hangouts-talk-messaging-mess-timeline?ref=spyglass.org within the company. Call it https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/more-wood-behind-fewer-arrows.html?ref=spyglass.org the 'less wood behind more arrows' strategy? As Perez notes, CC started life as a different agentic product itself called 'Daily Brief' – which actually also still exists https://gemini.google/overview/daily-brief/?ref=spyglass.org as a sort of notification creator from what it finds on your calendar and inbox. Speaking of, Google has also been testing an 'AI Inbox' for Gmail https://spyglass.org/please-end-email/ which sounds like it too will have overlap with a lot of what Daily Brief, CC, and Gemini Spark do Oh yes, then there's Google Assistant https://assistant.google.com/?ref=spyglass.org itself. The company is in the process of phasing out their old Alexa/Siri competitor in favor of Gemini, but it's branding everyone will remember and will further confuse matters. And wait a minute, shouldn't Gemini itself just do all of this? Well yes, and again, it sort of does to varying degrees. In fact, Gemini Spark is currently shoved into the Gemini app as a separate tab – similar to what OpenAI has done with ChatGPT and Codex after their "super app" merger https://spyglass.org/chatgpt-gets-to-work/ and Anthropic has done with Claude and Claude Code and also Cowork before they finally merged https://spyglass.org/inklings-metas-camera-less-glasses-apples-surveillance-claude-unifies-prime-bundles-dario-writes-bond-jack-bond/ :~:text=%F0%9F%A4%96%20Anthropic%20Merges%20Claude%20Chat%20and%20Cowork that secondary tab with Claude Chat itself . But wait, doesn't Google have an agentic coding product too? They do Antigravity – itself a weird, totally tangential brand – is separate from all of this. And then there's 'AI Mode' in Google Search. This can increasingly do much of what the main Gemini service can do, and I would expect that to continue to grow over time. Which means we're likely just a few months away from some kind of personal assistant AI within Google Search. Especially if Muse continues to get traction I mean, at least Google has killed off 'Project Mariner' https://www.theverge.com/tech/925559/google-project-mariner-shut-down?ref=spyglass.org , their agentic tool to browse the web and take actions on your behalf – a key feature of all personal AI agents. Third , and by far the biggest problem for Gemini Spark is simply that Muse is better. I'm not even speaking about the underlying models and capabilities here, just the products. As a 'Pro' Google AI user, I got access to Spark a few weeks back and... I just don't really even know what to do with it. That's what Muse has nailed here: an interface that guides the user along, unveiling capabilities without bombarding them. Plus, Muse is just full of fun and whimsy from the avatar on down. Gemini Spark lacks that... what's the word I'm looking for here?.. I realize I just said above that CC should be a feature of Gemini, but it's worth wondering if Google shouldn't have a separate 'Spark' app, rebuilt around being a personal assistant and ideally with a better name . Meta didn't shove Muse into their Meta AI app, but that also could have been because the Meta AI app itself was shoved into the old Meta 'View' app, for pairing the Meta Ray-Ban smartglasses. And it didn't seem like a ton of people were using their general chatbot competitor. So it was undoubtedly an easy call to make. Gemini is a different story, perhaps rivaling even ChatGPT in terms of active users now. Of course much of that is likely on the web and not their actual apps, but still. With Gemini established as Google's main AI brand, could they really do a separate Gemini Spark app/service? Presumably that's why this is a tab just as Claude Cowork was. But Meta may have just changed this game, at least for consumers. Again, in part thanks to that lack of AI consumer traction to date Anyway, yes, it sure seems like Google needs an answer here, fast. It just looks sort of silly given all the tools they control mixed with their relatively strong level of user trust that Meta is eating their lunch here with Muse. I mean, even Apple – Apple – has a better solution https://spyglass.org/siri-ai/ for a lot of use cases with the just-fully-launched Siri AI. Which, of course, is built on the backbone https://spyglass.org/apple-google-siri-ai/ of Google's models A year after it looked like Google had not only caught up in AI, but could run away with the game, we find a company that can't ship their latest flagship model, is far behind https://spyglass.org/oliver/ :~:text=%F0%9F%A4%96%20Google%20Admits%20Being%20Behind%20in%20AI%20Coding Anthropic and OpenAI in agentic coding, and has just been made to look foolish in the personal AI assistant space by Meta and Apple. What's next, Microsoft lapping them in AI-powered productivity? Probably https://spyglass.org/copilot-ai-super-app/ Disclosure: I worked at Google for a decade-plus as a partner at their venture fund, GV. I left a couple years back. Obviously, my thoughts are my own on these matters. Previously, on Spyglass ... <sup 1</sup Though it doesn't work with accounts tied to users under 18? ↩