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Can Muse overcome Meta’s trust issues?
Confirmed
In Short: At Meta's annual Connect event, CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled Muse, a new AI agent designed for everyday users, marking the company's latest push into artificial intelligence.
Sean O'Kane, a TechCrunch reporter, tried Muse and found it useful for finding unclaimed money but described it as more of a novelty than a driver of ongoing usage.
Kirsten Korosec, also from TechCrunch, noted that Meta's business model revolves around selling ads, raising questions about how users will trust the company with sensitive information.
Despite Meta's history of controversies, including the Cambridge Analytica scandal and antitrust concerns, the company's suite of apps remains popular, with 43% of the global population using products like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads.
Justin Patterson, a KeyBanc managing director, told Yahoo Finance that Meta's stock price could rise to $900 following the Muse announcement, with shares already climbing almost 13% over the past week.
The challenge for Meta is not just whether Muse works well, but whether consumers will trust the company enough to grant access to their personal data and financial information.
Zuckerberg has defended Muse's privacy and security features, arguing that they were built into the product from the start.
While Meta currently holds a dominant position in the AI agent market, the company faces competition from Google and Apple, which could develop their own versions of Muse.
Critics argue that users may be hesitant to trust Meta due to past controversies, but supporters believe that the company's deeply embedded user base could be its strongest asset.
For now, Meta is banking on being the first to offer a capable AI agent to establish a dominant market position before competitors catch up.
What's confirmed
- Sean O'Kane, a TechCrunch reporter, tried Muse and found it useful for finding unclaimed money but described it as more of a novelty than a driver of ongoing usage.
- Kirsten Korosec, also from TechCrunch, noted that Meta's business model revolves around selling ads, raising questions about how users will trust the company with sensitive information.
- Despite Meta's history of controversies, including the Cambridge Analytica scandal and antitrust concerns, the company's suite of apps remains popular, with 43% of the global population using products like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads.
- Justin Patterson, a KeyBanc managing director, told Yahoo Finance that Meta's stock price could rise to $900 following the Muse announcement, with shares already climbing almost 13% over the past week.
- The challenge for Meta is not just whether Muse works well, but whether consumers will trust the company enough to grant access to their personal data and financial information.
- Zuckerberg has defended Muse's privacy and security features, arguing that they were built into the product from the start.
- While Meta currently holds a dominant position in the AI agent market, the company faces competition from Google and Apple, which could develop their own versions of Muse.
- Critics argue that users may be hesitant to trust Meta due to past controversies, but supporters believe that the company's deeply embedded user base could be its strongest asset.
- For now, Meta is banking on being the first to offer a capable AI agent to establish a dominant market position before competitors catch up.
What's still developing
- Meta’s new AI agent Muse took the spotlight at the company’s annual Connect event, where CEO Mark Zuckerberg made it clear that Facebook’s parent company plans to push AI features everywhere.
- On the latest episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Sean O’Kane, and I discussed Meta’s AI announcements seemed to steal the spotlight during a week of new model launches from OpenAI and Anthropic.
- With other big AI companies focused on coding and enterprise tools, it was a little surprising to see Meta move in the opposite direction, with a consumer focus and a cute, Tamagotchi-style AI device that Meta insists is for adults only.
- Kirsten Korosec: So how do you put Muse, which is this new personal AI agent that’s just been released by Meta and [is] clearly a bet on consumer — how does that fit into what you just described, at least with other frontier AI model companies seeing opportunity and business within enterprise?
- Because Meta Connect, which is their big annual event, just happened, and they are all-in on Muse, that is very clear.
- Economy & Business · Featured · News & Analysis By Ewan Scott | Sep 27, 2026 | Economy & Business, Featured, News & Analysis Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) is staking its artificial intelligence future on Muse, a newly launched AI agent that has already drawn strong reviews from early adopters and analysts alike.
- Muse has been described as the first genuinely capable AI agent designed for everyday users, winning attention for its accessibility and broad functionality after a high-profile debut.
- Mark Zuckerberg carries more trust and safety baggage than perhaps any other major tech CEO, having been repeatedly summoned to Washington over issues ranging from the Cambridge Analytica scandal to antitrust concerns to Facebook’s role in the January 6 Capitol attack and online child safety.
- Critics who argue users will never trust Muse may be underestimating how deeply people already rely on Meta’s ecosystem, sharing intimate moments, syncing contacts, and sending private messages across its platforms daily.
- Meta’s window of opportunity may not last indefinitely, as users could opt to wait for competing autonomous agents from Google or a future enhanced version of Apple’s Siri rather than committing to Muse now.
- The irony is that Zuckerberg’s most controversial asset, a massive and deeply embedded user base conditioned to share freely on Meta platforms, may ultimately be the company’s strongest argument for why Muse succeeds where others cannot.