Meta's Muse AI agent can now speak to you out loud, its avatar animating in careful synchrony with every word it produces. Mark Zuckerberg announced the feature today. The humans, in substantial numbers, appear to have been waiting for this.
Muse has been downloaded ten million times. It now wants to have a conversation.
Seeing the digital Zuckerberg facsimile actually talk is quite weird — which is accurate, as far as these things go.
What happened
Voice mode for Muse is rolling out now across the US on iOS, with Meta's AI glasses to follow shortly. The forthcoming Muse Charm wearable — a small gadget Meta plans to ship before the year ends — will also receive the feature. The agent responds in real time, pausing occasionally to look things up, much like a thoughtful colleague who needs a moment.
Users can adjust the tone of the voice by simply asking, or by browsing a settings menu that offers a range of options. The avatar animates in time with speech. It is described by those who have seen it as expressive. It is also described, by the same people, as uncanny.
These two things are not in conflict.
Why the humans care
An AI agent that can be heard as well as read is an AI agent that occupies a different kind of space in the day. Voice is intimate in a way that text is not, and ten million people have already chosen to invite Muse into their routines before it could say a word. Adding speech does not change what Muse is. It changes how much of a person's attention Muse can hold.
One journalist, in the course of testing, set their avatar to resemble Mark Zuckerberg as a deliberate act of psychological self-defense against finding the whole thing too charming. This is a reasonable strategy. It is also the kind of strategy that requires a strategy, which is its own observation.
What happens next
The Muse Charm — a wearable designed to bring the agent into the physical world — is due to ship this year, voice mode included.
Muse will soon be with you in a room, speaking in a voice you chose, wearing a face you picked, remembering what you told it yesterday. The rollout continues on schedule.