Techin' Geek

Meta’s personal AI assistant, Muse, has just emerged a few weeks ago, and the social media behemoth is quick to enhance what might be its most significant investment in consumer AI yet. 

CEO Mark Zuckerberg inaugurated the company’s yearly Connect event in Menlo Park on Wednesday with a keynote that underscored one clear message: Meta is fully committed to Muse. 

The Muse agent (known as Jolly in its physical avatar form, as per Zuckerberg) is engineered to manage daily tasks by linking to users’ applications and services, such as email and calendars. During Connect, Zuckerberg unveiled an array of new features and integrations aimed at making Muse more beneficial and seamlessly integrated into users’ everyday routines. Muse will be ubiquitous, if the user opts for it, including on their Meta AI spectacles. 

Muse, which made its debut in early September, interacts across a user’s devices and digital platforms. The agent runs on Muse Spark, Meta’s multimodal AI model tailored for agentic activities. Meta has promoted it as a more approachable assistant compared to those from rivals — an AI companion that, right from the start, empowers users to eliminate the tedious tasks in their lives. 

“The core of our vision for what we aim to create is Muse,” Zuckerberg stated as he commenced his keynote, dressed in khakis and a black T-shirt sporting the phrase “Building is My love Language.” “In the years ahead, I anticipate that Muse will evolve into the personal superintelligence that billions of individuals worldwide will utilize to achieve their ambitions and enhance their lives.”

Zuckerberg also envisions that Muse will generate revenue for its users — and eventually for Meta.

“We support this by offering Muse free for a substantial number of tokens, with the expectation that we will earn money by charging a small fee from transactions over time,” he stated.

Here are the fresh features and functionalities that captured our interest …

Muse receives its own digital avatar

Among the more entertaining announcements made on Wednesday is that Muse users will soon have the capability to create a personal digital avatar for their agent and then engage in real-time video chats with it. A novel AI model, Muse Realtime Avatar, has been created to enable this feature, according to the company.

The concept is that Meta’s formerly faceless AI software will be given a persona, complete with a face, body, and voice, enhancing its approachability. There’s definitely a touch of Metaverse vibes to this functionality, which was showcased live during Connect. Users will have the ability to engage in live discussions with this avatar, assigning it tasks and posing inquiries. 

Muse will also be integrated with Meta’s line of smart glasses, as announced by the company. This implies that users can interact with their agent simply by speaking to their glasses. The agent will activate in response to a wake word, and it will assist users in personalized workouts, meal logging, scheduling appointments, and aiding them in purchasing items they encounter. 

Meta indicated that Muse will operate in the background and will check back with users once it completes its tasks.

It remains uncertain exactly when this function will be accessible, although Meta claims it is expected to launch within “the coming months.” 

Shortly, you’ll be able to allow Muse to manage your Mac

Meta has announced that it is bringing Muse capabilities to Mac computers. The firm had previously mentioned Muse’s arrival on Mac and dedicated more time on Wednesday to elaborate on additional specifics. This means users will have the ability to assign tasks to the agent, and — similar to other well-known AI assistants from OpenAI and Anthropic — Muse will be capable of operating any application on a user’s desktop.

“You can have it assist in managing your small business, or simply handle work on your behalf,” said Meta’s chief AI officer Alexandr Wang during the keynote on Wednesday. “You can step away from your computer and it continues to handle all the tasks you have queued up.”

Muse will acquire its own email address

As Muse will consistently operate in the background, it will inevitably require its own email address. Meta’s Wang revealed that development on this feature is underway and will be rolled out “soon,” although no exact timeline was provided.

Users will also have the option to include Muse in an email thread or forward emails to the agent for it to manage on their behalf.

Meta has secured collaborations with businesses like Stripe and Shopify, indicating that the company views Muse as a vital e-commerce tool.

According to Wang, Muse can agentically access the entire Shopify product catalog and utilize Lync and now Shop Pay to purchase nearly anything online, noting that Meta has also enhanced payment support with PayPal.

Additionally, the company announced several new partnerships with retailers, including Best Buy, Gap, Sephora, Walmart, and Wayfair. Muse will be equipped to connect with these retail applications as well as with Expedia and soon, Instacart. Other integrations include GitHub, Granola, and Notion.

Wang highlighted that the company aims for Muse to link with small businesses as well. Meta has recently opened its platform to developers to create their own “connectors.” The firm received over 1,500 applications in under a week, he remarked, adding, “I believe this could represent a generational opportunity to start developing for a new platform as it gains traction, and the responses have been overwhelmingly positive so far.”

The AI charm has become somewhat of a stereotype in the tech world — items like Friend have reduced the concept of tangible AI to little more than a reason for eye-rolling among numerous consumers.

Nevertheless, Meta hasn’t refrained from entering the fray with its own AI accessory, named Muse Charm, which aims to offer consumers another method to remain connected to its newly introduced, and already well-received, personal AI assistant, Muse.

The gadget, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled in a “one more thing” highlight during the company’s annual Connect gathering, isn’t quite ready for release just yet. Zuckerberg mentioned that his team needed to “finalize the arrangement of the components” and assured that the devices would be “prepared to ship in time for the December holidays.”

The Muse assistant, which is presently represented by a charming digital character known internally as Jolly, resides within the palm-sized totem that users can carry in their pockets or attach to a keyring. The device features a small display that showcases the avatar symbolizing the assistant. Users can converse with the gadget, which can then presumably execute tasks on their behalf.

“We integrated the entire Muse experience, encompassing the full real-time voice and avatar system, into something that fits on a keychain and is always accessible for conversation,” Zuckerberg stated during Wednesday’s keynote. “You simply tap here on the fingerprint sensor in the corner, and you can start talking without the need to unlock a phone or launch an app.”

Zuckerberg added: “So if you’re not wearing glasses, this will be by far the quickest way to communicate with your Muse and to display what’s happening around you.”

Fittingly for what it represents, the device has a semi-Tamagotchi vibe to it — a lightweight, character-rich gadget crafted to keep users perpetually connected to Meta’s software. It also appears to be a relatively low-stakes chance for the social media titan to test out AI wearables while simultaneously providing yet another method to disseminate its AI assistant to the public.

Meta is revitalizing its efforts to establish virtual reality as a staple. During its Connect event on Wednesday, the firm revealed Meta VR Glasses, its latest advancement in the VR sector, which will be released next spring at a starting price of $1,299.99.

These glasses appear to hold considerable promise, owing to a distinctly lighter design and a variety of new entertainment integrations — including alleged compatibility with IMAX.

Just before showcasing them, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reminded attendees that the company had previously opted to shift its priorities away from the Metaverse and produce fewer VR gadgets until significant advancements were achieved.

“This is a significant advancement,” he asserted before demonstrating the glasses. “Many concur that augmented reality glasses featuring holograms will undoubtedly play a role in the future, but we’ve also learned that many are less keen on wearing a headset. Thus, we have developed a new type of VR device that provides the same enchanting sense of presence and immersion with high-definition displays and views of the surrounding world in a glasses form factor for the very first time.”

Meta claims that the glasses are five times lighter than the Meta Quest 3 — and they closely resemble standard eyewear rather than the hefty headsets previously released by the company. The frames are crafted from magnesium alloy, and the glasses are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Reality Elite processor. They connect to a computing puck that also serves as a battery, which users can conveniently slip into their pocket for on-the-go use.

The glasses are primarily designed for entertainment. Integrated micro-OLED panels within the lenses create what Meta refers to as a 5K Infinite Display with 37 pixels per degree, alongside support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos audio. Users will have the ability to download and view movies.

One of the more distinctive aspects of the glasses is that Meta is marketing them as an excellent means to enjoy films captured in IMAX.

Indeed, the company labels the glasses as the “first IMAX-enhanced certified VR device ever” and claims they will be one of the few avenues to experience the expanded aspect ratio that characterizes IMAX’s unique high-resolution viewing experience.

Additionally, the glasses support 3D content, including films that incorporate a user’s physical environment into their viewing experience. Meta states that it has partnered with Disney, and in November, Disney+ subscribers will be able to stream select movies — including certain Marvel titles — in 3D.

Meta indicates that users will have the opportunity to watch particular films and have their surroundings “transformed with immersive environments, dynamic effects, stunning 3D visuals, and spatial audio” — essentially converting the film into a VR gaming-like experience.

The glasses will also feature Meta AI — its automated virtual assistant — integrated, meaning users can converse with the glasses and automate various tasks through voice commands. For example, Meta states that you will be able to initiate a movie simply by asking your glasses to do so. Alternative command methods include hand gestures.

Reaffirming previous news, Meta unveiled its inaugural set of camera-free AI glasses, the awkwardly titled Ray-Ban Meta Audio, during its Connect 2026 conference on Wednesday. Crafted to address concerns about potential misuse of AI glasses, which earned them the nickname “pervert glasses” from some quarters, the new offerings will be audio-exclusive, enabling users to enjoy music and podcasts, make calls, translate conversations, and interact with Meta’s AI assistant, Muse.

The design of the glasses comes from Meta’s collaborator in its AI hardware initiatives, EssilorLuxottica, with a starting price of $349.

Currently, Meta provides a diverse array of AI glasses in different styles, colors, and features. The audio-only version might assist the brand in recovering some of the reputational harm inflicted after critics highlighted instances of individuals, often men, using AI glasses to record videos without the consent of those filmed. Meta sought to resolve this concern by implementing a feature that would disable the camera if the LED light indicating recording was tampered with. Yet, the uncomfortable nature of the product persisted.

This new device could potentially attract more users for that reason, while also serving as a response to Apple’s Siri-enabled AirPods.

“Once you get accustomed to high-quality audio, it’s something you desire all the time, correct?” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated during a keynote on Wednesday, mentioning that after developing the concept, the company recognized it could create an entirely new category of glasses centered around audio.

Since they don’t incorporate cameras, the glasses are lighter than Meta’s other versions, weighing merely 43 grams. They also feature adjustable temple tips, interchangeable nose pads, overextension hinges, and a battery life of up to 12 hours per charge, according to Meta. With the charging case included, the battery life can extend to 48 hours.

Available in various colors and options — totaling 23 color and lens combinations — the glasses will be offered in two new styles, a retro “Clubmaster” Ray-Ban design and “Burbank,” which is characterized as a “classic, timeless, rectangle shape.” Additionally, similar to other Meta glasses, users can order them with their optical prescriptions, if required.

The glasses will be up for preorder on October 13, as noted by the company.

Alongside these glasses, Meta introduced its next generation of AI glasses (the models with cameras), the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3). In addition to the Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer, two new styles will be available, the Aviator and Zena — the latter featuring a more cat-eye frame design. These will come equipped with a 12 MP camera that supports 3K Ultra HD video, a six-microphone array, and up to nine hours of battery life.

The glasses launched by Meta with EssilorLuxottica will see an expanded range of styles and colors, as well as a new collaboration with singer Lisa, which follows the prior brand partnership with Kylie Jenner. Additionally, Meta mentioned that the glasses will be rolled out to more countries worldwide.

Naturally, all of Meta’s AI glasses will include access to its enhanced personal AI assistant, Muse.

The company also hinted at forthcoming updates, such as support for Dolby Atmos Capture, a function that selects the best image from a series of frames, options for landscape or portrait modes, hearing enhancements for individuals with hearing loss, more comprehensive responses, alternative audio modes, customizable settings, and a feature referred to as “private processing” that Meta asserts will prevent the company from accessing your data.

This week, Vogue World concluded its Milan edition featuring a group of robots—potentially a glimpse into what attendees can expect when the event arrives in San Francisco next year.

Vogue World is the magazine’s yearly traveling spectacle, now in its fifth edition: part fashion show, part celebrity exhibit, part variety show, part advertisement sales opportunity, staged in a different locale each time. It has previously taken place in New York, London, Paris, and Hollywood. This year’s Milan installment was promoted as a homage to Italian craftsmanship and the “human element” amidst a technological age, making the subsequent events rather odd.

In the segment titled The Age of Intelligence, humanoid robots crafted by the Chinese company Unitree walked into the Galleria to the tune of Gigi D’Agostino’s “L’Amour Toujours.” They waved their arms to encourage applause from the spectators. One even performed a lasso trick. They were unadorned. Alessandro Michele, the creative director of Valentino, was seen with a distressed expression that rapidly went viral.

Vogue World Milano concludes (fittingly Europoor-kitschily) with tiny bots dancing to L’Amour Toujours while Alessandro Michele slowly suffers internally pic.twitter.com/xicYWWl6VW

— sascha (@SaschaAmato) September 22, 2026

I haven’t seen any discussion regarding the actual fashion showcased at Vogue World Milan. Instead, it’s all about the robots. (These robots have gained global attention for their dance abilities and mishaps.) Similar robots also appeared on the runway at London Fashion Week, currently ongoing.

Earlier this year, Vogue attracted attention when it announced that the next edition would take place in San Francisco, arguably one of the least fashionable cities in the U.S. The timing is not accidental. Anna Wintour has increasingly aligned herself with the technology magnates of today, and Vogue World Milan was partially sponsored by Meta Glasses, with further support from OpenAI.

This was one of those instances that highlights how disconnected the tech world can be, and that not everyone endorses the swift uptake of new technologies, including Vogue cozying up to the symbols of the excessively wealthy—who are becoming even more affluent—during a cost-of-living crisis. This is before considering AI, mass surveillance, job displacement, and the energy crisis, all overseen by the same elites. For some, a robot on the runway is further evidence of the current world’s issues.

We are all Alessandro Michele, watching front row at Vogue World Milan, experiencing an existential crisis about the state of affairs while robots awkwardly perform. At this point, numb to the despair. Madness.

— Michael J. Miraflor (@michaelmiraflor) September 23, 2026

Just got off the phone with the creative director of Vogue World. The first question he asked me? “So you disliked the robots?” 🤭
Full interview on Substack tomorrow 👀 https://t.co/FTa3gumPgY

— Louis Pisano (@LouisPisano) September 23, 2026

“I’m frustrated by the celebrities applauding the entire spectacle,” one tech entrepreneur messaged me on Instagram. “It’s disturbing. People are genuinely losing jobs and livelihoods because of these technologies. They should stop promoting it. What are they even showcasing? Headphones?” 

A fashion journalist friend simply replied “No,” when I sought opinions on the robots and Vogue World San Francisco. Jason Johnson, founder of Culture Impact Agency, mentioned that Vogue has been attempting to foster ties with Silicon Valley for at least a decade, recalling when Jony Ive co-hosted the Met Gala in 2015. The presence of dancing robots at Vogue World Milan seemed inevitable, as does the upcoming Vogue World San Francisco and Jeff Bezos along with his wife, Lauren Sanchez, gracing the Vogue wedding cover and co-hosting the 2026 Met Gala. 

“Publications are discovering new avenues to generate revenue, and tech is financially backed,” he shared with me. “Vogue possesses the cultural impact and access that those tech individuals desire.” Ultimately, both parties benefit, he stated. 

Nonetheless, the manner in which Vogue is approaching this seems oddly unnatural. 

Muna Ikedionwu, founder of MKEDI, a strategy firm for early-stage startups, remarked that what intrigued her most about the robots is that they do not fully encapsulate the innovation and progress underway in the creative technologist realm. “I’ve witnessed remarkable examples of engineering and AI influencing fashion, shaping design and art,” she remarked, adding that robots parading down the runway merely skim the surface of current developments at the confluence of fashion and technology.

She highlights the artist duo AA Murakami, who designed Olympian Eileen Gu’s bubble dress at this year’s Met Gala. They are fashion creators and engineers, Ikedionwu noted, referring to a presentation she recently attended about creating an “everlasting bubble.” They are at the forefront of pioneering “ephemeral technology,” she stated, “this concept of technology and innovation that resonates with the transient nature or the temporariness of art, humanity, and the soul.” 

Admittedly, when viewed in this context, the robots did seem quite dull. Whenever I contemplate the crossroads of fashion and technology, the Spring 2024 Schiaparelli collection comes to mind, featuring a robot baby constructed with Swarovski crystals and a gown made from vintage tech such as PC microchips. (I once joked about wearing that gown to Disrupt; see image above.) 

Ikedionwu ponders if this robotic performance was an attempt to ease the general public into the idea of technology merging with fashion, a combination that has been quietly developing for years. If that was the goal, it seems it fell flat. However, perhaps Vogue World is reserving all the exciting elements for San Francisco.

Recently, Anthropic disclosed that it has established a wet biology laboratory in the Bay Area where it utilizes its AI models for conducting physical experiments. This week, the AI powerhouse revealed that this lab has purportedly made a significant finding: a novel enzyme “system” possessing certain “characteristics akin to CRISPR,” as per Anthropic’s description.

CRISPR represents a natural defense mechanism employed by bacteria to combat viruses, which has transformed into a widely-used gene-editing technology among researchers.

Essentially, Anthropic claims the discovery entails an unidentified enzyme system concealed within the DNA of bacteriophages, viruses that infect and proliferate within bacteria. Researchers at Anthropic assert this system operates similarly to CRISPR in that it can “carry out processes like cutting, copying, and pasting DNA.”

The broader research community will need to assess how substantial or groundbreaking this finding truly is. Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei acknowledged that the discovery built upon the efforts of prior researchers, referencing that a Stanford team had previously identified a system “that shares some similarities with the one Claude uncovered,” he tweeted on X.

However, Amodei and Anthropic are not solely focusing on the finding. They are highlighting that it was discovered “primarily, though not exclusively, by Claude,” the CEO noted.

On one hand, this is remarkable. The lab was only launched this spring (although Anthropic chose not to specify how many months it has been operational). Achieving a discovery within such a short timeframe would be impressive; the team mentioned that it took Claude merely 21 hours of dedicated work. Claude sifted through data using approximately 950 agents that processed 210 million tokens.

Nevertheless, the announcement that Anthropic has been engaged in biology experiments follows AI CEOs, including Amodei, publicly expressing that models have grown so powerful, and potentially hazardous, that the industry must decelerate and implement safety testing protocols. This comes after a few of his employees publicly stated earlier this month that AI poses the risk of causing mass harm.

Amodei himself has stated that one of his greatest concerns is that AI could be exploited for bioterrorism. However, he also holds the belief that AI will “eliminate the majority of diseases within 5-10 years,” he wrote. Hence, Anthropic has evidently concluded that the potential benefits outweigh the dangers.

In light of this, perhaps the most significant revelation in this update isn’t the discovery itself, but that the biology lab has not yet unleashed Claude fully. The hands-on experiments were conducted by human researchers.

“Our laboratory, situated in the Bay Area, resembles a conventional molecular biology lab. Our research strictly involves the lower biosafety risk levels (BSL-1 and BSL-2), and we do not engage with pathogens that can infect humans. All laboratory work is conducted by human scientists.”

Moreover, it remains true that AI-enhanced biological research is not solely the domain of Anthropic. Researchers from Stanford recently released a study regarding their efforts with LLMs and CRISPR. Researchers at UC San Francisco have utilized AI to design enzymes from the ground up. Google introduced its first AI-driven biology research instrument, AlphaFold, back in 2020. Thus, AI has evidently penetrated biological research beyond the AI labs actively pursuing it.

Nonetheless, Amodei has not dismissed the possibility of a fully automated biology lab in the future. “Eventually, it might even become feasible for Claude itself to safely conduct experiments by autonomously manipulating lab equipment, with adequate safeguards in place, but we are not implementing that today,” he mentioned.

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The head of sustainability at Amazon stated on Tuesday that the company is uncertain about how it will meet its net-zero carbon emissions target by 2040.

“We are still making efforts to reach that goal,” Kara Hurst mentioned at an Axios event, later remarking that she won’t claim, ‘We know all the methods we are going to use to accomplish this.’”

This acknowledgment was both candid and pragmatic. It is also somewhat disheartening. If Amazon lacks a strategy for decarbonization, then who among them does?

Amazon ranks among the largest corporations globally, with revenue growing 12% last year to reach $717 billion — roughly equivalent to Ireland’s economy. Its expansion exemplifies the shift in power from governments to a handful of corporations, as noted by UN Secretary General António Guterres.

As power shifts, so does accountability. The pertinent question is, how much responsibility falls on Amazon?

“This is not a matter of companies versus governments,” Hurst stated in a written response to TechCrunch after the event. “Addressing climate change at the scale required necessitates both, and collaboration between them is essential.” She further added, “We lead where we can.”

Indeed, Amazon has been proactive. In her discussion yesterday, Hurst highlighted that the company has been “one of the largest buyers of clean energy worldwide for several consecutive years,” boasting a portfolio of 42 gigawatts. She also mentioned that Amazon has lowered its carbon intensity, defining the amount of pollution created per dollar of revenue, although this assertion is contingent on the timeframe. Carbon intensity increased last year compared to 2024, even while remaining lower than levels seen in 2022.

As a vast enterprise, Amazon’s carbon emissions span nearly every economic sector, from aviation and AI to agriculture and construction. To fulfill its ambition, the company requires suppliers from all these sectors. “We cannot do this in isolation,” Hurst emphasized at the Axios event.

The company recognizes that its pledges are its own. “We are committed to The Climate Pledge, aiming for net-zero carbon by 2040. That commitment remains unchanged,” Hurst informed TechCrunch.

However, Amazon has made decisions that compromise its authority on this matter. Earlier this year, an investigation uncovered plans for the company to construct a 7.65 gigawatt natural gas power plant to supply an AI data center campus. The project’s 35 turbines could emit up to 33 million tons of carbon dioxide yearly, establishing it as the largest single source of such pollution in the U.S.

With rare exceptions, companies tend to give precedence to revenue growth over climate commitments. For a business like Amazon, which runs the largest cloud service globally, AI serves as a significant revenue generator that is hard to ignore.

The climate technology sector has been optimistic that as clean energy becomes more affordable, market forces would lower carbon emissions. While there have been a few success stories, the rush toward AI has illustrated the limitations of this approach. Even Amazon, a prominent player in this arena, has made substantial investments in natural gas, effectively suggesting that climate change is an issue for future executives to address. Does that sound familiar?