Meta has revealed some fresh details about its Muse AI agent in its Q3 earnings report including stats around adoption and future growth. Most of the information came courtesy of CEO Mark Zuckerberg in his earnings call, where he spoke about downloads, daily active usage, shopping and what Meta wants to build in the future.
Muse is one of Metas key hopes for generating revenue off its huge spend on AI infrastructure, and becomes more important given how high their costs are getting, while their investments have not generated much income so far.
This call gave investors their first insight into Muse performance one month in. The stats below have been taken directly from Meta, so we’ve split them up to show what Zuckerberg mentioned compared with external data, showing downloads, daily usage, retention, shopping, privacy and what the product roadmap looks like.
Download Numbers And Early Engagement
The app has been downloaded over 10 million times since it was launched to users in the U.S. and Canada last month, indicating there is substantial consumer interest in the product, Zuckerberg said. Social Media Today highlights this as an indicator.
Zuckerberg then explained the popularity of the app. He said that Muse is at number one in the App Store almost every single day. He continued by explaining how the app has been doing in terms of engagement. “Engagement and retention are also getting off to a great start,” he said, adding that around a quarter of users who have set up the app use it each day.
This refers to users who have set up the app, so although the app has been downloaded by 10 million people, only a quarter of those who have set it up are using it each day.
What Third Party Data Shows
However, looking at external data, figures from Sensor Tower (shared on X by @IntelFabs) show a sharp decline in Muse’s user retention after two weeks.
As highlighted by Social Media Today, many AI chatbots follow a similar trend, meaning Muse is not an outlier. The retention decline and Zuckerberg’s ‘daily use’ stat are not necessarily conflicting, but rather one shows how many people actually use Muse daily after completing the set-up process. Whereas the other looks at how many are still using the app two weeks after downloading it. Both could therefore be accurate.
This is however not a positive sign for an app that Meta are heavily relying on, given they continue to invest hundreds of billions of dollars into developing AI.
Shopping Leads How People Use Muse
One of the major points raised was that shopping is the most frequent use case. Over 25% of Muse users are asking for help finding better deals and making purchases. The average amount being spent is over $200.
So over a quarter of Muse users are asking for help finding better deals or making purchases. The average being over $200 means they’re not making small purchases. This is what Meta highlighted.
Zuck also provided two examples of how much activity there has been with shopping. ‘Plaid told us that they haven’t seen this level of activity using their connector with any other service.’ Zuck said. ‘In the first week we actually had to work with Stripe to increase our credit limits due to the volume being higher than expected.’
This is likely a key use case to drive forward for Meta. If they make a percentage of sales from Muse then they have a route to profitability with their AI projects. However, they still have a long way to go as their cumulative investment into AI could be up to $1 trillion.
Earlier in October Social Media Today covered Meta’s protocols around agentic commerce. The shopping stats from the earnings call provide usage stats.
Privacy Concerns Around The App
Zuckerberg stated that they are developing a new feature called Muse Confidential VM, to help alleviate some of the privacy concerns the app is facing.
However, this week Meta were ordered by a New Mexico Judge to pay $25 billion in fines after a jury found Meta misleading consumers regarding their data privacy. A report by Ars Technica also mentioned that Muse had a specific issue with cybersecurity groups being able to ‘easily gather significant amounts of information on query activity’ using basic techniques.
Both of these issues revolve around Meta and how they handle personal data. The New Mexico court case relates to the information they provide to consumers regarding their data privacy. The Ars Technica report relates to what people are typing into Muse itself. As shopping on Muse requires linking payments (as shown by the Plaid and Stripe information), privacy concerns are a big factor in the most commonly used function.
Social Media Today stated that privacy and security concerns seem to be a major obstacle in making this agent more widely used. However, Zuckerberg has stated he hopes to scale Muse to billions of users.
The Muse Network Plan
Zuckerberg mentioned ideas around using Muse on a large scale where people can have Muse working not just with their own assistant, but those of their friends and family.
This will provide a great change in how people shop. When looking to make a purchase with Muse, it will interact with the business’ own agent, instead of the agent taking the person to the business’ website. All of this will be well integrated to unlock huge value at scale, Zuckerberg said.
Meta has previously mentioned this idea with talking about having millions of AI bots within Meta apps acting as users. However, the Muse network sounds similar to this. The difference is the agents will share relevant optimizations to help users become more efficient. For businesses, they will be able to deal with customers via their agent. There has been no mention of when this network will be launched.
The Revenue Question
This shopping data is important as Meta have spent a lot on their AI, however there has not been much revenue made from their investment. This is why they are relying on Muse to turn this around. They are looking to make money off shopping within the app.
Social Media Today suggests that they will take a cut of sales made using Muse. We have not received any quotes confirming this however this is what we can gather from the article.
Muse On Meta Glasses
Zuckerberg ended with one product update. Muse is coming to Meta glasses in November. The article gives no other details about how the agent will work on the glasses.
FAQs
Q 1: What is Muse?
Muse is Meta’s AI agent, which they view as their main way to make money on their heavy investment into their AI infrastructure.
Q 2: How many people have downloaded Muse?
Zuckerberg said Muse has been downloaded more than 10 million times. That count covers the period since it launched to users in the U.S. and Canada last month. Social Media Today pointed to the figure as a sign of significant consumer interest.
Q 3: How often do people use Muse?
Zuckerberg stated that around 25% of people who have set up Muse use it daily. It has been the top App in the App Store almost every single day.
Q 4: Is user retention strong?
The data from Sensor Tower shows that there is a drop in retention after two weeks. This trend has been seen in other AI chatbots too.
Q 5: What do people use Muse for most?
Shopping is the most common use case, according to Zuckerberg. More than 25% of Muse users ask for help finding better deals and making purchases, which Social Media Today called probably a key use case for Meta.
Q 6: How much do people spend through Muse?
Zuckerberg said that on average people are spending over $200 using Muse. Plaid haven’t seen this level of activity with any other service on their connector. During the first week Meta had to collaborate with Stripe to increase credit limits as the volumes were higher than expected.
Q 7: What is Muse Confidential VM?
It is a feature Zuckerberg said Meta is working on to address privacy concerns in the app. Zuckerberg mentioned it on the earnings call.
Q 8: What is the Muse network?
This is a plan to allow Muse agents to connect with one another. This includes friends, family and businesses. If someone is shopping they will get their agent to speak to the businesses agent (Zuckerberg).
Q 9: What privacy problems has Muse faced?
A cybersecurity group managed to access a large amount of data from user queries using basic exploration methods (Ars Technica). A judge in New Mexico has ordered Meta to pay $25 Billion in fines for consumer data privacy.
Q 10: When is Muse coming to Meta glasses?
Zuckerberg said Muse is coming to Meta glasses in November. The article gives no further details.
