Meta’s Muse, a personal AI agent that books trips, fills out forms and purchases on a user’s behalf, has already proven popular with the masses, but a new side project could prove particularly attractive to tinkerers and hackers. On Friday, the company unveiled Muse Gadgets, an open source project that allows developers to build their own hardware that connects to Muse. Meta provides open source firmware (the low-level software that runs a device) and a Linux software development kit (SDK), along with some project ideas to get users started. These include giving Muse a color e-ink display or loading it into a device that plugs into a TV’s HDMI port. There don’t seem to be many limits either. Users can set up a low-cost hobbyist computer, such as a Raspberry Pi or a commercially available ESP32 board, and then connect Muse “to your displays, buttons, sensors, actuators, and anything else you have on your workbench,” Meta notes. The company has also created a Discord channel to help users. Meta has already tested the code itself, naturally. Nat Friedman, head of product at Meta’s Superintelligence Labs, said in a post on X that the company built a device called the Muse Home Link. The USB-C powered device allows Muse to connect to a home network and talk to the smart devices it contains, including smart speakers and TVs. In fact, Meta created 5,000 of these Home Links and is giving them away to Muse subscribers while supplies last, according to Friedman. Considering Friedman’s post on Home Link received nearly 30,000 views in just a few hours, we assume those gifts have been claimed. Friedman said Home Link would be ready to ship within weeks. Muse Gadgets may not have a wide appeal, but it fits nicely into Meta’s comprehensive strategy to make Muse more than a standalone chatbot. Meta isn’t content with pushing Muse to everyday consumers; It is also trying to court small businesses and businesses. Earlier this week, the company introduced Muse for small businesses, which is free with usage limits and connects Muse with tools like Shopify, Dropbox, and Slack. It also launched a new business unit, Meta Enterprise Platform, to help it boost its AI offerings to enterprise and corporate customers. When you buy through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This does not affect our editorial independence.
