// THE VERGE — INTELLIGENZA ARTIFICIALE
Meta’s Muse AI works and creeps me out
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Muse rattled off very specific interests linked to my Instagram account.
Muse rattled off very specific interests linked to my Instagram account.
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Meta has launched its new Muse assistant, marking the company’s first real foray into AI-powered productivity tools. The company says its AI agent can “take the busywork off your plate” by helping you with online shopping, emails, trip-planning, and more. I decided to try out the new tool and see how well it performed — especially from a company that previously prioritized entertainment over productivity. Though the AI assistant generally worked as I expected it to, the unnerving amount of information it autonomously gleaned about me largely overshadowed my experience.
One of the first tasks I assigned Muse, which carries out actions using a cloud-based virtual computer, was to sort through my Gmail inbox and delete messages I don’t need. That required me to connect Muse to my Google account and give it permission to access, read, and delete emails. The process didn’t go smoothly on mobile; the Google sign-in screen kept glitching and returning me to the Muse website instead of the app. I eventually got it working on my laptop, where it deleted thousands of promotional emails and updates. I didn’t feel good about permitting Muse to view all of my emails given Meta’s track record on privacy over the years.
Meta says it designed Muse to only exchange data with third-party apps “that’s needed for them to work for you.” The company also says that it doesn’t share your information with advertisers. I still felt uneasy, but I pushed on anyway, linking my Amazon account to Muse. I asked the AI agent to pick out workout tops for me based on a specific size, style, and colors. Before placing the order, Muse noticed I had other items in my cart and asked if I wanted to remove them. The consideration pleasantly surprised me. Once I signed off on the purchase, it proceeded to successfully buy only the tank tops.