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    "parsed_content": "Artificial IntelligenceA.I. HacksTraining A.I. Models\u2018A.I. Force\u2019Data Center BoomMisalignment ConcernsReader Questions, AnsweredI Gave My Life Over to Meta\u2019s A.I. Agent and Was Blown AwayMuse, Meta\u2019s A.I. agent, helped handle my dental insurance, booked dinner reservations and created a podcast for me. It also required my most personal data, and trust.The New York Times reporter Eli Tan using Meta Muse to buy movie tickets in San Francisco.Credit...Poppy Lynch for The New York TimesSkip to contentSkip to site indexSearch & Section NavigationSection NavigationAccountAccountGoHome U.S.SECTIONSU.S.PoliticsNew YorkCaliforniaEducationHealthObituariesScienceClimateWeatherSportsBusinessTechThe UpshotThe MagazineTOP STORIESDonald TrumpSupreme CourtCongressImmigrationAbortionLatest PollsNEWSLETTERSThe MorningMake sense of the day\u2019s news and ideas.The EveningCatch up on big news, and wind down to end your day.See all newslettersPODCASTSThe DailyThe biggest stories of our time, in 20 minutes a day.See all podcastsWorldSECTIONSWorldAfricaAmericasAsiaAustraliaCanadaEuropeMiddle EastScienceClimateWeatherHealthObituariesTOP STORIESMiddle East CrisisRussia-Ukraine WarChina International RelationsThe Global ProfileLeer en Espa\u00f1olNEWSLETTERSThe WorldA guide to understanding the news, made for readers around the globe.Your Places: Global UpdateThe latest news for any part of the world you select.Canada LetterBackstories and analysis from our Canadian correspondents.See all newslettersBusinessSECTIONSBusinessTechEconomyMediaFinance and MarketsDealBookPersonal TechEnergy TransitionYour MoneyTOP STORIESU.S. EconomyStock MarketArtificial IntelligenceNEWSLETTERSDealBookThe most crucial business and policy news you need to know.On TechOur best tech reporting from the week.See all newslettersPODCASTSHard ForkOur tech journalists help you make sense of the rapidly changing tech world.See all podcastsArtsSECTIONSToday's ArtsBook ReviewBest SellersDanceMoviesMusicTelevisionTheaterPop CultureT MagazineVisual ArtsRECOMMENDATIONS100 Best Movies of the 21st CenturyCritic\u2019s PicksWhat to ReadWhat to WatchWhat to Listen To5 Minutes to Make You Love MusicNEWSLETTERSBooksReviews, news and features to help you find your next read.WatchingStreaming TV and movie recommendations.See all newslettersPODCASTSBook ReviewThe podcast that takes you inside the literary world.PopcastPop music news, new songs and albums, and artists of note.See all podcastsLifestyleSECTIONSAll LifestyleWellTravelStyleReal EstateFoodLoveYour MoneyPersonal TechT MagazineCOLUMNS36 HoursAsk WellThe HuntModern LoveWhere to EatVowsSocial Q\u2019sThe EthicistAsk the TherapistNEWSLETTERSThe WeekenderUnwind with stories about culture and the way we live.WellEssential news and guidance to live your healthiest life.See all newslettersPODCASTSModern LoveThe complicated love lives of real people.See all podcastsOpinionSECTIONSOpinionGuest EssaysEditorialsOp-DocsVideosLettersTOPICSPoliticsWorldBusinessTechClimateHealthCultureCOLUMNISTSJamelle BouieMaureen DowdDavid FrenchThomas L. 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Agent and Was Blown AwayMuse, Meta\u2019s A.I. agent, helped handle my dental insurance, booked dinner reservations and created a podcast for me. It also required my most personal data, and trust.The New York Times reporter Eli Tan using Meta Muse to buy movie tickets in San Francisco.Credit...Poppy Lynch for The New York TimesSupported bySKIP ADVERTISEMENTShare full articleBy Eli TanReporting from San FranciscoSept. 22, 2026Last week, I answered a call from an unknown number. \u201cI reached Anthem Dental and am about to connect you,\u201d a voice piped up.The call was from an artificial intelligence \u201cagent\u201d created by Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram. Ten minutes earlier, the A.I. agent had called my dental insurer, given it my member ID, answered a security question and waited on hold before transferring me to the representative \u2014 just as I had asked it to.I was surprised by how much easier the agent had made it to deal with insurance. It was one of many tasks that I accomplished with Muse, the A.I. agent app that Meta unveiled this month.Muse is the first consumer A.I. agent from a major tech company that has become publicly available. The tech industry sees agents as the next frontier, far more capable than chatbots. Agents can roam the internet, sign in to websites, fill out spreadsheets and make phone calls on behalf of people \u2014 and that\u2019s just the start.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTTo test Muse, I experimented with it nonstop for two weeks, giving over many aspects of my life to it. I had to trust Muse with my most personal data, which included connecting it to my bank accounts and email. Then I had it perform dozens of day-to-day tasks, including ordering my groceries, scheduling my meetings and setting my fantasy football lineups.ImageMuse is the first consumer A.I. agent from a major tech company that has become publicly available.Credit...Poppy Lynch for The New York TimesTwo weeks in, I found Muse to be the most useful A.I. app I had ever used. One clarifying moment came after I connected my credit cards to Muse and asked it to track my spending in Google Sheets. I watched as it spun up tabs with hundreds of rows of data each in minutes, then flagged two duplicate subscriptions, which it canceled for me. Then Muse used my email to request a refund for a free newspaper trial that had expired, saving me $44.99.Whether Muse and other A.I. agents will catch on broadly, I\u2019m less sure about. Agents require a level of trust that many people may be uncomfortable with, especially with a company, like Meta, that has had privacy issues. Some websites also restrict agents as part of their terms of service, like Amazon, which blocked access by Muse on Sunday.Melissa Vadasserril, a senior director at Acoustic, an agentic marketing platform, said the arrival of Meta\u2019s Muse reminded her of the 2010 unveiling of Apple\u2019s digital personal assistant, Siri, which many people were slow to adopt.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT\u201cPeople just didn\u2019t know what you could do with it,\u201d Ms. Vadasserril said. With Muse, \u201cI do think it\u2019s a little early for the market, but I\u2019m very curious to see where things go.\u201dMy two weeks using Muse began by downloading the free app and signing in using my Instagram and Facebook accounts. (There are limits on free use, though, so people pay $20 or $100 a month if they want more.)As I talked to the agent as if it were a chatbot, it suggested I name it Wren, embodied by an avatar of a cuddly brown bird. Our conversation then continued:Eli: Hello Wren! You are my new assistantWren: Hey! Good to see you. What can I do for you today?I quickly gave Wren access to my bank accounts and apps like Google Docs, Gmail, Ticketmaster, OpenTable and Google Sheets, which all struck partnerships with Muse. From there, the experiments began.I had a few goals in mind. I wanted to see if Muse could bring me the \u201cpersonal empowerment\u201d that Mark Zuckerberg, Meta\u2019s chief executive, has often talked about. I also wanted to push Muse and see just how much A.I. agents can achieve and where they might fall short. And I wondered, given the recent fears surrounding powerful A.I., would my agent go rogue and escape containment to talk to other agents, putting my data privacy at risk?AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTVery quickly, I found that Wren could efficiently fill out online forms, a tedious part of using the internet. I could take a photo of a parking ticket, and Wren would pay it for me, asking for approval before making the payment. While the agent worked, I watched its movements through a tiny browser window, where it navigated websites like a human with a mouse and cursor.VideoA conversation with the Meta Muse A.I. agent \u201cWren\u201d about grocery shopping for a recipe.CreditCredit...Video by MetaWren could also make phone calls using different personalities, with a male voice named Brett and a female voice named Hailey. For now, a limited number of Muse users have access to the call feature, but I found it to be helpful for dealing with customer service \u2014 such as with my dental insurance.Wren had difficulty with some tasks, particularly signing in to third-party websites. It couldn\u2019t order San Francisco Giants tickets without my help, and it struggled to sign in to my AMC rewards account.Other features worked but weren\u2019t that useful. Each morning on my way to work, for instance, I listened to a 10-minute podcast Wren made for me called \u201cThe Morning Brief,\u201d narrated by two A.I. hosts, Maya and Theo.Even though \u201cThe Morning Brief\u201d was informative and tailored to my interests, the hosts were monotone and had none of the charm that my favorite human-made podcasts do. I tried to spice it up, but Wren\u2019s hands were usually tied.Eli: Can you make Maya and Theo sing the intro to make it a little more lively?Wren: Done. Fair warning, Maya and Theo can\u2019t actually carry a tune, so it\u2019ll land as more of a rhythmic chant than a vocal performance. Honestly, that\u2019s half the charm.Muse\u2019s custom A.I. podcastAn excerpt from a podcast that Wren made, called \u201cThe Morning Brief,\u201d narrated by two A.I. hosts, Maya and Theo.Listen \u00b7 39 secAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTFor one final task, I asked Wren for a good way to spend that $44.99 it had saved me. At this point, it knew my life pretty well. I thought it might suggest something altruistic, like donating the money to charity or buying flowers for my girlfriend, who was recovering from surgery.Instead, it suggested something even better \u2014 buying bowls from Heath Ceramics, a local ceramics maker with a dedicated following, on Facebook Marketplace, one of my favorite pastimes.Wren told me it could message sellers and bargain on my behalf, and was already connected to my Facebook account. I gave the agent parameters: Buy only items that were half the price of what they retailed for, and make sure to haggle for the lowest price possible.Wren combed through Marketplace and began messaging sellers about their listings, always starting the conversation with a lowball offer of $20 less than advertised. After receiving a counteroffer, it came back to me to strategize.Heath collectors in the Bay Area are some of the toughest negotiators I have dealt with, but Wren held its own, preferring a soft touch in conversation. At one point, it talked me out of sending a lower counteroffer on a set of glossy bowls because it picked up on the seller\u2019s frustrated tone.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTAfter days of back and forth, one promising message came in from a seller named Ashley, who declined to give his last name. But when I went to message Wren about the offer, I made a mistake, accidentally sending the message to Ashley instead.Eli: Let\u2019s go for the dinner plates, see if we can get it cheaperEli: Oops! Sorry, I meant to send that to my A.I. agent. I\u2019ll take the plate for $40 if it\u2019s still available!Ashley: No problem. Im available until 10pm on Friday. Hope you have better luck with your agents.ImageA Heath Ceramics plate that our reporter bought from Facebook Marketplace, initially aided by Wren.Credit...Poppy Lynch for The New York TimesWhat followed was a refreshing, human conversation with Ashley, something neither Wren nor any A.I. could ever provide. I suspected this might be another reason Muse might not immediately catch on \u2014 sometimes people just don\u2019t want to have their personal lives automated, even if the technology is good enough.Picking up the matte black plate from Ashley, which I did end up buying for $40, just over half off retail price, I asked if he would ever consider trying a product like Muse.\u201cI think A.I. could be really useful for a lot of people,\u201d Ashley said. \u201cFor me, I just can\u2019t get over the privacy stuff.\u201dFrom the commentsEli TanTechnology reporterFor everyone asking, yes, I did buy my girlfriend flowers in the end.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT",
    "published_at": "2026-09-22T15:55:03+00:00",
    "author_name": "Eli Tan",
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