Meta Platforms' new personal AI agent, Muse, has caused a significant shift in Wall Street's perspective on the AI market, moving attention from enterprise AI to consumer-facing applications. Muse achieved over 2.5 million global downloads in its first two weeks, surpassing competitors like Anthropic's Claude and Google's Gemini, and even outperforming OpenAI's ChatGPT in iOS mobile downloads. This rapid adoption suggests that consumer AI agents could drive the next phase of the AI trade, creating new monetization opportunities and increasing demand for computing power.
The success of Muse has raised concerns for companies that depend on consistent consumer spending and subscriptions. Analysts at Deutsche Bank, for instance, believe streaming services and The New York Times are particularly vulnerable to increased cancellations as Muse can help users manage and potentially cancel services more efficiently. Amazon has already reportedly blocked Muse from acting as a personal shopper on its platform, highlighting the friction Muse is creating in online commerce and its potential to disrupt established digital spending patterns. Morgan Stanley estimates that agentic offerings could digitize approximately $30 trillion in consumer spend across various sectors like online advertising, e-commerce, and food delivery.
Muse, which launched on September 8th, can perform tasks such as sending emails, booking travel, and making transactions. While a basic version is free, Meta offers subscriptions at $20 and $100 per month for more extensive use. This new revenue stream has bolstered investor confidence, with Meta Platforms' shares surging over 20% since Muse's launch, adding more than $200 billion to its market capitalization. JPMorgan analysts anticipate Muse could become the most widely used consumer AI application since ChatGPT, underscoring its significant potential.
Beyond Meta, the ripple effect of Muse's success is being felt in the semiconductor industry, particularly among CPU manufacturers. The increased demand for inference computing driven by AI agents is expected to boost demand for server central processing units. Companies like Intel and AMD, considered the primary suppliers for such large-scale computing needs, saw their stock prices jump, with AMD closing above a $1 trillion market capitalization for the first time. Arm Holdings also experienced a significant rise, reflecting the market's anticipation of substantial new demand for general-purpose data-center computing.
