Meta says the keychain-sized Muse Charm will ship in December.
Meta says the keychain-sized Muse Charm will ship in December.
Mark Zuckerberg said Meta's new personal AI agent Muse has become the "centerpiece" of his AI vision, as he unveiled a new handheld AI "charm" device that will feature the interactive assistant.
The Meta chief used the company's annual Connect event at its Silicon Valley headquarters to announce Muse Charm, a small pendant-like device that fits on a keychain and is activated by a fingerprint sensor.
The device, which features a screen showing the Muse avatar, will also have real-time voice interactivity and is set to be released in December.
"If you're not wearing glasses, this is going to be by far the fastest way to talk to your Muse and to show what's going on around you," the chief executive said.
Muse, development of which was first revealed by the FT in May, has helped change the momentum of Zuckerberg's huge bet on AI, quickly becoming the most downloaded app on both the Apple and Android app stores in the US since its launch two weeks ago.
The easy-to-use app offers consumers a team of autonomous bots to carry out everyday tasks, such as ordering groceries, booking travel and organising finances.
Zuckerberg on Wednesday also announced new capabilities for Muse, including the ability to have live conversations with the interactive AI assistant, and insisted that it has "state-of-the-art privacy and security."
The Meta founder has come under increasing pressure from Wall Street as he pours billions of dollars into AI infrastructure and talent, with Meta's share price falling by more than a quarter between last September and the beginning of August.
But Meta's stock has bounced back since the September 8 launch, adding $300 billion to its market capitalisation. The stock was slightly higher in after-hours trading on Wednesday.
The release of a breakout product to Meta's 3 billion users caps a turbulent two years in which Zuckerberg has repeatedly struggled to compete with OpenAI and Anthropic in developing frontier AI models and features.
Zuckerberg on Wednesday said he believed Muse would "make users money." As a result, the company would offer a free Muse tier "with the expectation that over time we will profit by taking a small fee from transactions."
Whether Zuckerberg will emerge vindicated in the long term in his AI strategy - for both his Muse assistant and AI wearables - will depend on whether the new features can withstand potential privacy and security issues as its user base grows.
The Meta chief has bet that smart glasses and other portable devices will become one of the main ways consumers interact with AI, despite critics dubbing its camera-toting Ray-Bans "pervert glasses" after intrusive videos hit Instagram and TikTok.
Sold in partnership with eyewear group EssilorLuxottica, the glasses have inbuilt speakers, microphones, and cameras that can be used to take photos, listen to music, and chat with Meta's AI.
Reporting synthesized and verified under Nexvoro.tech editorial guidelines. Full primary records referenced via Ars Technica.
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