Meta's Muse Now Places Calls to U.S. Businesses—But Only for Paying Subscribers

After testing the capability in September, Meta's consumer AI agent Muse can now place calls to U.S. businesses on behalf of users. The feature is limited to paid subscribers, the company said.

Muse, which surpassed 10 million users last month, has been working to make consumer AI a mainstream product for everyday users. Placing calls is one way it aims to get there, handling another task on people's to-do lists.

According to Alexandr Wang, Meta's Chief AI Officer and head of its Superintelligence Labs division, the feature can take care of calls people don't want to make—such as those to their cable company, the DMV, or a restaurant that doesn't offer online reservations. In a post on X, Wang announced: "Muse can make phone calls for you! Let Muse take care of all those calls you don't want to make. Insurance? Cable? DMV? Dinner res? Not your problem anymore." The feature is available now to paid subscribers in the U.S.

Previously, only a select number of Muse early adopters could try the feature after requesting access. Now, any paying Muse subscriber can make such requests. Muse subscription plans start at $20 per month for 500 million Muse tokens per week. Heavier AI users can pay $100 per month for 3 billion tokens.

A Growing Field of AI Callers

Muse is not the only AI agent capable of placing calls to businesses. The startup Instinct offers a similar option, as does Google's Gemini, which began testing phone calls initially for U.S. Pixel owners.

However, while these AI tools are certainly capable of handling the task, the reception on the other end of the line can be mixed. Many businesses and receptionists hang up on calls from AI agents as soon as they identify that it's not a human on the phone. But with AI now better able to mimic a real human voice, distinguishing between a customer and an AI working on the customer's behalf will get tougher.

Why It Could Appeal to Consumers

Despite the challenges, the feature could appeal to consumers frustrated with the state of customer service. For too long, customers have been forced to navigate complex phone trees and then sit on hold waiting for a human representative—who, if they're lucky, can actually help them rather than transfer them to another department. Now, consumers could potentially use their AI—with its infinite patience—for this tedious task instead.

While calls remain a paid-only feature for now, the recently added option to create a Muse email address will soon roll out to free users, Wang said this week.

via TechCrunch AI