Meta’s consumer AI agent Muse can now place phone calls to U.S. businesses on behalf of users, but the capability is available only to paying subscribers in the United States. The company says the agent can handle calls that users would otherwise have to make themselves. Muse first tested the feature in September with a limited group of early adopters who asked the AI for access; it is now open to any paying U.S. subscriber.
Muse has more than 10 million users, a figure Meta disclosed last month. The company has been working to make consumer AI a mainstream product for everyday users, and call-making is one of the ways it aims to reach that goal. Placing calls is intended to give the agent another practical task to handle.
What the agent can call
Alexandr Wang, Meta’s chief AI officer and head of its Superintelligence Labs division, said the feature is meant for calls people do not want to make. He cited cable companies, the DMV and restaurants that do not take online reservations. A promotion for the feature also listed insurance and dinner reservations among the chores Muse could take over.
Access is tied to Muse’s paid plans. Subscriptions start at $20 per month for 500 million Muse tokens per week. Users who need more can pay $100 per month for 3 billion tokens. The calls are part of the paid service for the time being.
Muse is not the only AI agent offering to make calls. Startup Instinct has offered a similar option, and Google’s Gemini can also place calls. The feature places Muse in a category that already includes rival tools.
Mixed reception on the other end
The reception on the other end of the line can be mixed. Many businesses and receptionists hang up once they identify that the caller is an AI agent, not a human. As AI voices become better at mimicking real people, telling the difference between a customer and an AI working on the customer’s behalf could become tougher.
Despite that resistance, the option may appeal to consumers frustrated with customer service. Customers have long had to navigate complex phone trees, wait on hold and hope that the person who eventually answers can help without transferring them to another department. An AI agent with unlimited patience could take on that tedious work instead.
Email access for free users
Phone calls remain a paid-only feature for now. Wang said this week that a recently added option to create a Muse email address will soon be available to free users as well. That option is separate from the call feature, which remains behind the subscription.