Meta Shows AI Agents Aren’t Just For Businesses Anymore

Good morning. Early signs of success for Meta Platforms’ new, consumer-focused AI agent are helping prove that AI agents aren’t just the hottest new thing in business technology—they may finally be gaining steam among consumers, too.

Just two weeks after Meta released the agent, called Muse, the app to access it reached No. 1 in Apple’s App Store. Then, over the weekend, X was filled with posts by people praising their new agent.

Shares in Meta’s stock even jumped 11% on Monday, its biggest one day gain since April 2025 and its highest close since October.

Also on Monday, Meta and Shopify said they are teaming up to allow Muse to complete purchases on behalf of users.

The excitement around Muse is one of the first indications that AI agents could catch on for everyday users. Until now, AI agents have been the stuff of enterprise tech—heralded as the new interface for business software and even touted as working alongside human employees. Companies are already using agents to provide customer service, write code and analyze data.

As one example, FedEx is planning an AI agent workforce to work with its human staff, the shipping giant’s Chief Digital and Information Officer Vishal Talwar told me earlier this year. In the next two years, the average global Fortune 500 enterprise will run over 150,000 AI agents, according to market research and IT consulting firm Gartner.

But there have been plenty of challenges for enterprises in rolling out and managing AI agents—among them cost, cybersecurity risks and the potential for too many agents.

For consumers, too, the challenges around AI agents abound.

Agents within Muse can book doctor’s appointments, buy products, manage finances, send emails and do any number of other things on users’ behalf. For Muse to work, though, it needs access to users’ data—their emails, calendars, e-commerce sites and bank accounts. And that is one area where Meta’s strategy seems destined to face hurdles.

Plus, the stakes with a personal agent are elevated because agents are empowered to buy products, set appointments and book travel by themselves—all of which could cost users money if the agent errs.

The risk of the rogue AI agent is where tech providers will need to provide assurances to both enterprises and consumers. And while many companies have teams to help govern and protect against AI agent mistakes, consumers don’t.

Would you use the same AI agents at home that you do at work? Send your feedback to me at belle.lin@wsj.com (if you’re reading this in your inbox, you can just hit reply).

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Follow Isabelle Bousquette on LinkedIn, Instagram, X, and TikTok for more behind the scenes on her tech and AI coverage, and lately, her contributions to the WSJ Leadership Institute’s new Executive Resilience series, where she’s profiling America’s top execs about their fitness and wellness habits.

Follow Belle Lin on LinkedIn and X for her latest reporting on enterprise technology and AI.

Steven Rosenbush is chief of the enterprise technology bureau at the WSJ Leadership Institute. He also has a column. You can follow him on LinkedIn.

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