Meta Platforms (META) just had a mic drop moment.
The release of its AI agent Muse gives investors a glimpse into how AI could be monetized to consumers.
“This new agent platform Muse is taking over the internet,” Futurum CEO Daniel Newman told Yahoo Finance.
Meta’s Muse quickly climbed the app charts, racking up millions of downloads in its first two weeks. Shares of the social media giant jumped about 13% last week and are on track for their best month since July 2013.
The rally is notable given the stock’s various declines at the start of the year.
“If you paid attention, there were signs that good things were coming for Meta,” Newman added.
But those signals were difficult to see amid growing concerns about rising capital spending on AI, allegations of social media addiction and the fallout from years of heavy losses at Reality Labs.
Discussions about AI risks and a potential slowdown in development have also cast a shadow over the industry in recent weeks.
The AI debate has focused heavily on semiconductor giants riding the wave of agentic AI, as well as adoption by businesses, which are spending heavily to increase productivity.
Other names in the field, such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google’s Gemini, have gained attention this year.
“Then, Muse came out of nowhere,” Newman said.
Wall Street is highlighting Meta’s reset of its AI strategy last year, including the creation of its Super Intelligence Labs and the move to proprietary AI models, by launching its Muse Spark closed model this year.
“This team has been on fire over the past year,” Justin Patterson, chief executive officer of KeyBanc, told Yahoo Finance on Thursday.
Analysts are particularly optimistic about Muse’s consumer focus, an audience that is notoriously difficult to monetize. Unlike Meta’s main social platforms, which are ad-supported, Muse does not offer any advertising. Instead, the company plans to make money by slightly reducing transactions made through the agent.
“We now have a consumer-facing AI product that, frankly, a lot of companies have struggled with,” Patterson said. “So, Meta went from being a laggard over the past two months to being a leader once again.”
Wall Street is watching the Muse ecosystem grow, with hopes that revenue will increase. More downloads and connectors will result in more revenue and ROI.
The stock currently has 73 Buys, 6 Holds and 0 Sells. Dozens of analysts have raised their price targets on the stock over the past week, and the consensus now stands at $787.
Ines Ferre is a senior economics reporter for Yahoo Finance.
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