AI Tech / news
Meta Opens Muse AI Avatar Video Chat to All US Users
Meta’s Muse Voice feature is now available to everyone in the U.S., letting users call and video chat with the company’s consumer AI agent through a customizable animated avatar. The rollout comes ahead of a Tamagotchi-style wearable meant to bring Muse to life.
The feature, Muse Voice, was first introduced at Meta’s Connect developer conference in September. Meta chief AI officer Alexandr Wang announced broad U.S. availability on Thursday in a blog post and on X, where he shared a demo of his own Muse avatar.
Two new models underpin the experience: Muse Realtime Avatar and Muse Realtime Voice. They power a digital avatar that converses with users as they ask questions or request tasks to be handled on their behalf.
The default animated character is nicknamed Jolly. Users can customize it to resemble a person, an animal or another character, and Meta says the avatar uses small expressions and gestures that match the tone of the conversation.
Muse does not see the user, but it hears them and reacts based on the conversation, according to Meta. The company believes anthropomorphizing the agent in this way could make consumers feel more connected to it.