Meta's Muse Draws ChatGPT-Like Attention Ahead of Zuckerberg Keynote

The reception has drawn comparisons to OpenAI's ChatGPT, which introduced generative AI to a worldwide audience in late 2022. Ahead of Zuckerberg's Meta Connect address, CNBC said it was eager to see what Meta does next with Muse, including how it makes the agent more capable, how deeply it integrates Muse into its existing ecosystem to strengthen its core Family of Apps business and enhance its smart glasses line, and whether the agent will create additional monetization opportunities.

Following Meta's roughly $18 billion settlement to address the youth social media addiction case brought by state attorneys general, analysts speculated that the resolution was a clearing event that would unleash new AI product launches. Muse fits that description, CNBC said. Ahead of the keynote, many analysts raised their price targets on Meta stock, which has soared more than 20% since the Muse agent was launched earlier this month. The latest increase came from KeyBanc, which moved its target to $900 per share from $780, implying another 20% upside from current levels.

KeyBanc analysts said the main takeaway is that consumer AI is now on the upswing and Meta is well positioned to monetize its massive AI investments to drive further revenue and earnings growth. That, in turn, would support a higher valuation. Meta trades at a historically undemanding forward price-to-earnings ratio of 22.6, only slightly above the S&P 500's forward multiple of 19.5 times, according to CNBC.

CNBC said Muse has both free and paid tiers. Within an hour of using it, a CNBC writer thought Meta had nailed agentic AI for the masses. The writer cited a natural and intuitive user interface, an extremely capable proprietary Muse Spark model, and a free tier that is pretty much on par with the paid tiers, with the main difference being a lower token allowance. Other providers tend to require paid subscriptions to unlock additional tools and agentic capabilities, CNBC said.

The CNBC writer said other providers' agents are capable and have been used to complete many tasks successfully, but Muse felt different. The writer spent less time refining prompts and more time building, auditing, and hardening a workflow, and now receives several Muse-generated reports daily delivered directly to an email inbox. Each report pulls a variety of primary sources and vetted data feeds, and the agent's memory helps call back to prior analysis when a new update may require a revision in thinking, according to CNBC.

CNBC speculated that Muse may be better at understanding user context. An AI model can only be as good as its training data, the report said. Alphabet has users' emails, Google searches, YouTube history and Google Workspace projects, while Amazon has shopping history, Prime preferences and Alexa prompts. Meta, by contrast, has a window into users' lives through Facebook and Instagram. Before Muse, Meta mostly harnessed AI to feed contextual content to users and better target and create advertising, which makes up the bulk of the company's revenue stream.

CNBC said Meta's edge, thanks particularly to Facebook and Instagram, is understanding how people interact with one another online. Every comment a user leaves is in essence a prompt. The user may not be prompting an AI, but is looking for a reaction. CNBC said that information includes not only the initial comment or prompt but also subsequent responses, and how others react to the user's comments and how the user reacts in turn.

Editor's Summary

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is set to speak at the company's developers conference as its new Muse AI agent draws ChatGPT-like attention and Meta shares have risen more than 20% since Muse's release. Analysts have raised price targets, with KeyBanc citing consumer AI momentum and Meta's ability to monetize AI investments. CNBC's review said Muse's free tier is nearly on par with paid tiers, while Meta's social platforms may give it a data advantage in understanding user context.