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

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

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

While other AI competitors offer voice chat features, Meta’s Muse offers a cute, animated avatar (nicknamed Jolly), which users interact with as they ask questions or request tasks to be handled on their behalf. Users can also customize the avatar as they choose, changing it to something that looks more like a person, animal, or some 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 grow even stronger as they begin to engage in live conversations with it.

As the Muse avatar speaks, Meta says it will use “subtle expressions and gestures” that match the tone of the conversation.

The news of the rollout was announced via blog post and on X by Meta’s chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang, who shared a demo of his Muse in action. The video saw Wang joking around, referencing his love of posting memes on X, which he told his Muse may have gotten him in trouble with his boss. His Muse, a fluffy white dog, responds with a suggestion to add disclaimers to those memes that could be misinterpreted as Meta endorsing anything risqué. (Ha!)

The added support for video chats and calls comes just before Meta’s plan to launch a Tamagotchi-like wearable device for its Muse AI agent before year-end. When the device arrives, the digital avatar will appear on its small screen, letting users talk to the agent, which can then reply or carry out tasks for them.

Meta says the real-time conversations are supported on mobile, web, and Mac and will later come to its AI Glasses and the upcoming “Muse Charm” hardware device.

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Sarah has worked as a reporter for TechCrunch since August 2011. She joined the company after having previously spent over three years at ReadWriteWeb. Prior to her work as a reporter, Sarah worked in I.T. across a number of industries, including banking, retail and software.

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