Alexandr Wang's demonstration with his Muse avatar
The launch was announced through a post on Meta's blog and a message on X from Alexandr Wang, the company's artificial intelligence director, who shared a demonstration of the tool.
The tool combines voice and animations to interact with Meta's assistant and anticipates new features for wearable devices
The launch was announced through a post on Meta's blog and a message on X from Alexandr Wang, the company's artificial intelligence director, who shared a demonstration of the tool.
Meta has expanded the functions of its agent of artificial intelligence with Muse Voice, a tool that allows users to make calls and video calls with a digital avatar. The company announced that the feature is now available for all users in the United States.
The system combines AI models to generate real-time conversations with an animated representation of the assistant. The avatar can take on different appearances and accompany its responses with gestures and expressions that aim to reflect the tone of each exchange.
The feature, initially presented during the Meta Connect developers conference in September, uses Muse Realtime Avatar and Muse Realtime Voice technologies. Both allow the digital character that interacts with users to come to life.
The avatar, nicknamed Jolly, has an animated appearance and can be customized. Users can modify it to resemble a person, an animal, or another type of character.
Meta believes that giving a visual representation to its AI agent can create a closer connection with users. During conversations, the avatar uses subtle expressions and gestures that accompany its responses.
However, Muse cannot see the person on the other end of the call. The system listens to the user and reacts based on what is being said.
In the video, Wang humorously converses with his avatar, represented as a fluffy white dog. The executive mentions his habit of posting memes on X and jokes that this activity might have caused him problems with his boss.
The avatar suggests adding clarifications to the memes that could be interpreted as an official stance from Meta on controversial content.
The addition of video calls to Muse comes ahead of the anticipated launch of a portable device similar to a Tamagotchi, which Meta plans to unveil before the end of the year.
The device, known as Muse Charm, will have a small screen where the digital avatar will appear. Users will be able to talk to the AI agent, which will respond or perform tasks on their behalf.
Real-time conversations are already compatible with mobile devices, the web, and Mac. Meta also indicated that the feature will later be available on its AI Glasses and the upcoming Muse Charm device.