Meta's artificial intelligence (AI) agent app Muse has overtaken OpenAI's ChatGPT on the free app charts, fuelling competition in personal AI assistants, Business Insider and other major foreign media reported on Sept. 25.

Muse is an AI agent that browses the web and handles tasks users assign by clicking and entering information on their behalf. It carries out small tasks that require moving between multiple apps, such as reserving library books, sending emails and delivering e-books.

Muse has ranked No. 1 on the U.S. App Store and Google Play since its initial launch on Sept. 8 and has held that position so far. Cumulative downloads have surpassed 3.4 million, according to market research firm Sensor Tower. Over the first two weeks after launch, average daily downloads rose 55 percent, well above ChatGPT's 24 percent over its first 10 days. It is currently available only in the United States and Canada.

Meta on Sept. 23 unveiled Muse avatar video chat, support for using Mac computers, a dedicated email address and plans to integrate with smart glasses at its annual developer event Meta Connect. It also introduced a dedicated device called Muse Charm that resembles a Tamagotchi. Muse daily active users rose 27 percent immediately after the event.

Muse also draws a distinction from the metaverse that Meta had pushed. The metaverse required expensive VR headsets and demanded new ways of behaving. Muse can be used immediately on a smartphone and focuses on making what users already do easier. Meta is installing Muse on its VR glasses products while also linking it to more services such as flight bookings, grocery orders and product purchases.

Meta's distribution reach is also a weapon. Daily users of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp exceed 3 billion. Even ChatGPT, which has 1 billion weekly users, finds it difficult to claim an advantage against that scale. Meta 집중 its platforms on Muse ads from the day after launch and ranked among the top 10 brands by ad spending as of Sept. 22.

Despite the Muse surge, OpenAI has not yet released a direct response product. CEO Sam Altman (샘 알트먼) signalled a major announcement next week via X, and the possibility is being discussed that a competing product could be unveiled at Dev Day on Sept. 29. Start-up Instinct, SpaceX AI's Grok Bot and Google's Gemini Spark have also joined the field. Experts share the view that Muse's success will drive an explosive surge in market attention toward AI agents.

It is, of course, too early to predict Muse's success based only on early downloads. Seema Shah (시마 샤), a vice president at Sensor Tower, said, "Even among chatbots, engagement, churn and retention levels vary," adding, "ChatGPT currently leads on these metrics." External variables also exist. If Apple and Google change operating system policies, agent functions could be limited. Amazon has already blocked Muse from shopping on its platform.