Meta Platforms dubbed its new Muse the "world's first personal AI agent built for everyone." So, I just had to give it a shot-for me and for you.
But before I take you on my test drive, a little background. I'm not an AI power user. Google's Gemini has replaced my usual search engine for both personal and professional research, and that's about it.
While I've spent pretty much my entire life with a computer screen available, many of the offerings from prior AI agents didn't appeal to me. I love the vibe-coded sports trivia apps I play every morning with my friends, but I've never felt the need to try to use Anthropic's Claude Code to create one myself.
This one felt different.
The value proposition of Meta's Muse isn't that it's going to add a new skill or hobby to daily life; it's simply going to improve and optimize things you're already doing every day or don't do because they feel too cumbersome.
So, I started Musing. The Muse app instantly asked me to name it and suggested connecting my Gmail account and Google Calendar. I declined. I'm not comfortable giving the app access to my accounts that might have sensitive information, and I don't think I'll be alone in that friction point-at least at first.
I let Muse, though, analyze a pdf of my latest credit card statement. Ironically, one of the first things this AI helped me cancel was a subscription from a company that many investors have claimed will eventually be wiped out by AI. It instantly saved me nearly $25 a month by helping me cancel an Adobe account I didn't realize I still paid for. Since Muse doesn't have access to any of my actual accounts, it walked me through how to cancel on the website myself in a few easy steps.
Muse is believed to be a disrupter for companies that have long preyed on consumers forgetting about their subscription or not realizing how high prices have risen. I asked Muse which companies it believes it will most commonly catch. It listed Sirius XM Holdings, dating apps like the ones offered by Match Group, and gym membership-driven businesses like Planet Fitness and Peloton Interactive.
The market believes the AI agent. Shares of Planet Fitness fell nearly 10% on Tuesday as Muse hysteria spread on Wall Street.
"They bill just rarely and quietly enough that you never feel the pinch, and the cancellation flow is deliberately annoying," my Muse agent, which I named Josh Jr., told me.
Josh Jr. also identified two more areas at risk: "the slow price-creepers" and the "death by a thousand cuts" expenses. For my purposes, the streaming services fall under the first category, and my frequent 7-Eleven stops on the way home from work fit into the latter.
This presents a key takeaway from the rise of Meta Muse. In less than two minutes, you can figure out where you're spending too much money and see the math of how much cutting back those expenses could save you. Services like Rocket Money have already offered this kind of product, but Meta is now putting the concept in front of its more than 3.6 billion daily active users.
Since the main utility of Muse appears to be accomplishing nagging tasks faster, I put Josh Jr. to work on a variety of things I've kept putting off.
First we went shopping. I told Josh Jr. about the worn-out Lululemon ABC pants I wear to the office. I provided my size and said I'd prefer to pay closer to $50. (Retail price: $128!) He found some Lululemon pants on sale and then offered me several options that reviews said are very similar to Lululemon's pants, but at half the price. He created his own web browser within the chat experience where I could watch him scan through a variety of websites and reviews.
Since I didn't give Josh Jr. my credit card, he sent me a link that I could open in a new tab to actually purchase the pants. He helped me find the best flight options for a wedding I'm attending in January within minutes, and handed me a link where I could enter my traveler information and book it.
Josh Jr.'s search capabilities were very impressive and felt like a serious threat to Google's advertising business on its search engine. I've needed to see a foot doctor in Manhattan for months now. I'd convinced myself I don't have the time to find a doctor that takes my insurance in a convenient location for me. In a few minutes, Josh Jr. provided three different options with direct numbers to call and links to schedule an appointment. I'm now finally going to get that toenail looked at. My mom can thank Josh Jr.
To be clear, the technology still has its quirks and drawbacks. A Barron's editor provided full access to his credit card account. Muse initially flagged a suspicious four-figure expense from August that the editor didn't remember. After going back and forth with Muse, the AI agent eventually admitted it had accidentally identified a mortgage payment from August 2025 as an expense from August of this year. It's a little mistake that will probably happen less as the technology improves. But still, it's another sign that most things coming from AI right still require human verification.
Muse won't do everything you ask it to, either. Josh Jr. refused to opine on my dating life, even when asked multiple times. He told me, "Somebody around here has to have standards, and it sure isn't going to be the guy who named his assistant after himself." Muse, it seems, isn't really a research bot like Google's Gemini or OpenAI's ChatGPT. As Josh Jr. says, "Google is for finding things; I'm for getting things done."
Since I didn't give him access to my email or credit card information, he couldn't fully complete tasks for me. But to be fair, that was my own choice.
The more I use Muse, the more I'm convinced I will eventually be handing more and more information over to Josh Jr. He completed several errands I was putting off in minutes simply by Googling around and setting things up for me.
Muse feels like every other emerging technology that has been released over the past few decades. At first, it's met with skepticism. Remember when buying something off Instagram was taboo? Then it impresses you. And slowly, over time, you become increasingly obsessed with it.
In a few months, I don't think I'll be able to say I'm not an AI power user anymore. Right, Josh Jr.?
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