Meta shows off Muse Charm, a standalone gadget for its AI agent

Meta is building a dedicated device for its new Muse AI agent. Called the Muse Charm, the gadget got a brief showing from CEO Mark Zuckerberg right at the end of the Meta Connect keynote. It looks like a chunky smartwatch without the strap — a big screen and a little lanyard so you can carry it around.

In the top-right corner sits a fingerprint sensor: press it and the agent wakes up, ready to be spoken to. The device also appears to carry a small camera and what looks like at least three microphone holes on the front. Zuckerberg said there's no need to unlock a phone or open an app to use the Charm — though he didn't explain how the gadget actually talks to Meta's servers.

Shipping promised for the holidays

Meta plans to ship the Charm "in time for the holidays in December," but Zuckerberg admitted the company has "only built a few of these so far." It still has to finalize the "finishing material." Throughout the keynote he teased a translucent exterior that would let you see the gadget's internals, calling it an "elevated hacker aesthetic." More details, he promised, would come "soon."

Muse itself is less than a month old, yet the agent has already become a buzzy product for Meta. The bot can take actions on a user's behalf, and part of tonight's keynote went to new capabilities — among them computer use on Macs and control over an email address.

Racing for AI hardware

Plenty of companies are chasing the still-undefined, largely experimental market for AI hardware. The closest analog to the Muse Charm may be the Rabbit R1 — a similarly tiny, cutesy device housing an AI agent that never proved capable enough to be worth carrying. This year's Connect is a reminder of how badly Meta wants to win the race to whatever the next big hardware platform turns out to be — and how quickly it's willing to test whether Muse can stick as a device.

Source: The Verge