Meta's Muse AI Agent Excels at Tackling To-Dos and Online Shopping

Muse managed my to-do list competently, yet its ability to handle financial transactions was notably impressive.

Modern life presents us with an endless, auto-populating list of responsibilities. It is often frustrating how, while minding my own business, unexpected tasks suddenly appear, such as a fallen tree branch or a canceled trash service. These are exactly the types of chores we were promised AI would handle, freeing us from the mundane.

According to Meta, this future has arrived in the form of Muse, an AI agent designed for the general public. I decided to test it by assigning it the tedious tasks I had been putting off for months. The results were surprisingly effective, particularly when the tasks involved making purchases.

Marley, one of the suggested avatar names, had been prompting me all week with its capabilities. After engaging with it, I launched multiple tasks simultaneously. Watching Marley spin up virtual browser windows to execute these commands was quite intense. I chose a cute avatar resembling a snowman and a puppy, and it worked diligently to process my requests.

I assigned Marley to follow up with a local landscaper regarding a backyard renovation bid. After accessing my Gmail, the agent noted the delay and drafted a somewhat lengthy email. I instructed it to shorten the message, breaking my own rule against using AI for writing. Although sending it felt uncomfortable, it was sent.

Next, I tasked Marley with buying a replacement steam wand assembly for my six-year-old Breville Barista Express. Since I had torn a washer years ago, I had been procrastinating this simple $7 repair. Marley found the part, added it to a cart, and I completed the final checkout steps.

Marley attempted to downgrade my home security plan but encountered a limitation. While it could log into the account, it could not make phone calls, which is required for this specific change. Although this feature is reportedly in development, it highlights the odd future where robots may talk to other robots before a human ever intervenes. A human agent ultimately handled the switch.

For a fallen tree branch, Marley proved highly effective. It searched for local junk removal services, collected my address and a photo of the limb, and submitted quote requests. One company responded quickly, and I scheduled a pickup for the next day.

Marley also shopped for camping kitchen gear and a fire pit. It successfully bypassed Amazon's restrictions and found items on OXO and Walmart websites. It calculated prices and helped prioritize purchases, eventually totaling $500. It was shockingly easy to let the AI agent spend money when it is so efficient.

There is a risk in relying on these tools to speed up life. While Muse provided helpful summaries of information, the "dirty secret" of productivity is that doing more often just invites more tasks. Giving so much information to a massive tech company like Meta is unsettling, even if they claim it is secure.

We must ask ourselves what we will do with the time saved. I spent hours after testing Muse not being productive, but chatting with the robot instead of enjoying the outdoors. It seems that even with AI agents, our to-do lists simply evolve rather than disappear.