Meta says US users can now video chat with their Muse AI avatar

Muse Voice, a feature that allows users to call and video chat with Muse, Meta’s consumer AI agent, is now available to everyone in the United States, the company announced Thursday.

First introduced at Meta’s Connect developer conference in September, the video chat feature involves new AI models, Muse Realtime Avatar and Muse Realtime Voice, which help power the digital avatar that chats with the user.

While other AI competitors offer voice chat capabilities, Meta’s Muse offers a cute animated avatar (nicknamed Jolly), which users interact with when asking questions or requesting tasks to be handled on their behalf. Users can also customize the avatar to their liking, changing it to something that more closely resembles a person, animal, or other character.

The company believes that anthropomorphizing Muse in this way could make consumers feel more connected to their AI agent – ​​a connection that could become even stronger as they begin to engage in live conversations with it.

As Muse’s avatar speaks, Meta says he will use “subtle expressions and gestures” that match the tone of the conversation. (Muse doesn’t actually “see” the user, but it hears them and reacts based on their conversations.)

News of the rollout was announced via a blog post and on X by Meta’s Director of AI, Alexandr Wang, who shared a demo of his Muse in action. The video saw Wang joking, referencing his love of posting memes about X, which he said could have gotten him in trouble with his boss. His muse, a fluffy white dog, responds by suggesting adding disclaimers to these memes that could be misinterpreted as Meta endorsing something risky. (Ha!)

The added support for chats and video calls comes just ahead of Meta’s plan to release a Tamagotchi-like wearable device for its Muse AI agent before the end of the year. When the device arrives, the digital avatar will appear on its small screen, allowing users to speak to the agent, who can then respond or complete tasks for them.

Meta says real-time chats are supported on mobile, web and Mac and will later be available on its AI glasses and the upcoming “Muse Charm” hardware device.