Meta launches open source Muse Gadgets project for custom AI hardware

MUMBAI: Muse is getting a hardware upgrade, and Meta is putting the tools in the tinkerer’s hands. The company has introduced Muse Gadgets, an open-source project that lets developers and hobbyists connect its Muse AI agent to custom-built hardware, potentially turning the software into everything from a smart display to a home control device.

The project includes open-source firmware for ESP32 boards and a Linux software development kit, giving users the building blocks to create their own Muse-powered devices. Meta is also encouraging experimentation with readily available components rather than limiting the technology to a fixed piece of proprietary hardware.

Among the ideas suggested by Meta is adding Muse to a colour E Ink display that could show reminders or other information. Developers could also use an HDMI stick to bring Muse to a television or build a compact touchscreen device inspired by Meta’s own Muse Charm concept.

The system can run on hardware such as Raspberry Pi computers and ESP32 boards. Users can connect displays, buttons, sensors and other components to their setups, allowing the same AI agent to interact with physical devices in different ways depending on what a developer builds.

Meta has also created a Discord channel for people experimenting with Muse Gadgets, giving developers and hobbyists a place to share projects, troubleshoot setups and explore different hardware applications. The open-source approach potentially gives the Muse ecosystem a much wider playground than a single device could offer.

Meta is testing the idea itself through Muse Home Link, a gadget designed to connect Muse with smart devices around the home. Nat Friedman, head of product at Meta’s Superintelligence Labs, said the USB-C-powered device can connect Muse to a home network and communicate with devices such as speakers and smart TVs.

Meta has produced 5,000 Muse Home Link devices. According to Friedman, the devices are being offered free to Muse subscribers while supplies last, with shipments expected within a few weeks.

Home Link also gives a glimpse of what Meta appears to be trying to build around Muse. Instead of keeping the AI agent inside an app, the company is exploring ways for it to interact with the physical environment and use connected devices to carry out tasks.

That ambition extends beyond the home. Earlier this week, Meta introduced Muse for Small Business, a free offering with usage limits that can connect with services including Shopify, Dropbox and Slack.

Meta has also established a new business unit called Meta Enterprise Platform as part of its broader effort to take its AI products into businesses and enterprise environments. The combination of Muse Gadgets, Home Link and the small-business offering suggests that Meta is testing several routes for turning Muse from an AI assistant into a more widely connected platform.

The timing is significant because Muse has been gaining users rapidly in the US since its launch on 8 September. Data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower shows that Muse crossed 5 million downloads within 22 days, reaching the milestone faster than OpenAI’s ChatGPT, X’s Grok and Anthropic’s Claude.

ChatGPT took 56 days to reach 5 million US downloads, while Grok took 103 days and Claude took 492 days, according to the Sensor Tower data cited in the source material. Muse’s faster early download pace has given Meta an expanding audience with which to test its next wave of AI products.

Usage figures also point to continued activity beyond the initial downloads. Internal data reviewed by The Information indicates that more than 3 million users now interact with Muse through at least one prompt each week, while more than 1 million submit a prompt on a daily basis.

When interactions such as approving an action are included, the weekly user figure rises to more than 4 million. That distinction is important for an agent that can carry out tasks, because interacting with Muse does not always require users to type a fresh prompt every time the system takes an action.

The move towards custom hardware could therefore give those users more ways to interact with Muse. A developer could build a dedicated screen, connect physical buttons or sensors, put Muse on a television or create an entirely new device around the agent.

For Meta, the larger experiment is whether an AI agent can move naturally between software and the physical world. Muse Gadgets gives developers the freedom to test that idea themselves, while Home Link provides Meta with its own reference design.

The open-source approach also shifts some of the creative work outside Meta’s walls. Instead of deciding exactly what a Muse device should look like or do, the company is providing the underlying tools and letting developers decide what they can build with them.

With 5 million US downloads already recorded within 22 days, more than 3 million weekly prompt users and more than 1 million daily prompt users, Meta now has a growing audience for that experiment. Muse may have started life as an AI agent, but with Gadgets, the next question is what happens when the agent gets a body.