Meta is developing an AI agent called "Hatch" for individual users and an Instagram-linked shopping agent, The Information reported on May 5.

People familiar with internal matters said Meta is developing an AI agent it calls Hatch, inspired by OpenClaw, an open-source AI agent tool.

Meta is aiming for internal tests by late June. To do that, it has built virtual environments modeled on real websites such as DoorDash, Etsy and Reddit to safely test Hatch, The Information reported.

Meta is also working to improve Hatch's ability to decide when to act on its own rather than waiting for instructions, the amount of information it can handle at once, and a memory function that retains details across conversations, The Information reported.

Hatch is being trained on Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Sonnet 4.6 models, and is expected to switch to Meta's latest model, Muse Spark, at launch, the report said.

Separately, Meta aims to release the shopping agent by integrating it into Instagram before the fourth quarter. The plan is to let users tap a product in an Instagram Reel or feed, go to an external webpage and complete the purchase within the platform.

Meta is seeking to strengthen competitiveness against TikTok's shopping feature, TikTok Shop, with the shopping agent, The Information reported.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg (마크 저커버그) said in a recent quarterly earnings call, "Meta's goal is to provide agents that understand users' goals and work day and night to achieve them." He added, "Tools like OpenClaw have become popular among tech enthusiasts, but they are too complex for ordinary users to use," and said there are technical challenges in infrastructure and ease of use.

OpenClaw was acquired by OpenAI earlier this year. Meta also attempted an acquisition, but it did not happen. Meta is in a situation where it may have to cancel a deal for Manus, an AI agent developed by a Chinese startup that it acquired in December last year, after Chinese government authorities put the brakes on it.