Meta’s Muse AI agent has been making a splash (and irritating Amazon), but company head Mark Zuckerberg reckons users will want to keep it around. So much so that Meta is launching the Charm, a little device that lets customers talk to Muse wherever they are. As long as there’s internet access.
The little device, revealed when Meta unveiled its latest collection of smart glasses this week, contains its own 5G modem and a teeny little 2in display. It’s supposed to help users to access Muse without needing to go through a smartphone app. In other words, it’s hardware that Meta will control completely.
Charm offensive
There aren’t many further details about the compact gadget. It looks like an earbuds case, but that tiny touchscreen display includes a fingerprint sensor for users to activate the company’s agent. There’s also, presumably, a microphone and speaker. Users must talk to the little digital critter, issuing instructions that will surely be followed to the letter. More importantly, they won’t need a Google or Apple smartphone to do it. That certainly benefits Meta by taking competitors out of the loop. How that benefits you is less certain.
Speaking at this year’s Meta Connect event, Zuckerberg put a lot of emphasis on what he calls “personal superintelligence.” He wasn’t just talking about the Charm, since Muse is also bound for the company’s smart glasses, but he did say that “[w]e have shifted our focus to building the best devices for personal superintelligence.”
There’s little other information on the Charm and how it works. Meta’s own website only includes a sign-up for when it becomes available. But there are at least three reasons to be sceptical. The first is the metaverse, something Zuckerberg promised would be huge. That… fizzled out.
The second is Meta’s reputation with hardware. Yes, its glasses range seems to be doing okay, but everything else it has ever released has flopped or lost momentum. Finally, there’s the seeming curse of dedicated AI-toting gadgets. Maybe someday someone will launch a portable AI that actually works properly, but it hasn’t happened yet.
