Muse Voice, Meta’s real-time voice and video chat feature for its consumer AI agent, Muse, is now available to all users in the U.S., the company announced on Thursday.
The feature was first introduced at Meta’s Connect developer conference in September and is powered by new AI models, Muse Realtime Avatar and Muse Realtime Voice, which help enable the digital avatar’s live conversations.
While several AI competitors offer voice chat, Meta said its Muse approach stands out through a playful animated avatar, nicknamed Jolly. Users interact with the avatar as they ask questions or request tasks, and they can customize it to resemble a person, animal or other character.
Meta believes that giving Muse human-like traits could help consumers feel more connected to their AI agent, a bond that might grow stronger as live conversations begin.
As the Muse avatar speaks, Meta said it will use “subtle expressions and gestures” that align with the tone of the conversation.
The rollout was announced in a company blog post and on X by Meta’s chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang, who shared a demo of his Muse in action. In the video, Wang joked about his fondness for posting memes on X and said his Muse may have gotten him in trouble with his boss. His Muse, a fluffy white dog, responded with a suggestion to add disclaimers to memes that could be misinterpreted as Meta endorsing something risqué. (Ha!)
The newly expanded support for video chats and calls comes ahead of Meta’s planned launch of 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 talk to the agent, which can then reply or carry out tasks.
Meta said 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.