Zuckerberg said rapid AI advances have reshaped Meta’s technology roadmap, with Muse emerging as a key part of its consumer strategy.

  • Zuckerberg said AI progressed faster than the hardware needed to make his original metaverse vision mainstream.
  • Muse now connects with a broad range of productivity, commerce, travel, fitness and entertainment services.
  • Meta delayed Muse’s launch by several months to address privacy, security and user-trust concerns.

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg offered a rare admission of a strategic pivot, saying the company has shifted its long-term focus toward artificial intelligence after AI advanced faster than the hardware needed to deliver his original vision for the metaverse.

Speaking on “New Things with Joanna Stern,” Zuckerberg said Meta initially expected immersive, holographic metaverse experiences to become viable before highly advanced AI. Instead, AI capabilities have progressed rapidly while the technology needed to make affordable, ubiquitous holographic experiences remains further away.

“When we got started I had predicted that the metaverse… would happen before we got really advanced AI and it’s been sort of an interesting quirk of the way that the tech tree has evolved that we’ve actually gotten very advanced AI before you can get these holograms in kind of an affordable enough format factor to be ubiquitous,” Zuckerberg said.

He compared the strategic shift to the evolution of Apple’s product portfolio, saying Meta had initially envisioned building the metaverse first and AI later. But the rapid progress in AI changed that equation.

Muse AI’s Deep Integrations

Zuckerberg also pointed to the strong launch of Meta Muse, the company’s next-generation AI agent. One of the things that makes Muse powerful and a threat to AI competitors is its integrations across a range of apps and digital services.

At Meta Connect, the company announced further integrations. Muse connects to Gmail, Google Calendar, Outlook, Google Docs, Spotify, Peloton, Apple Health, Ticketmaster, Shopify, PayPal, Instacart, Expedia, Stripe, and Shop Pay, among others.

Muse is available through its standalone app and WhatsApp, while its underlying intelligence is integrated across Instagram, Facebook, Messenger and Threads, with support for Meta’s AI glasses also being expanded. 

Zuckerberg Says Meta Prioritized Privacy Before Muse Launch

Zuckerberg said Meta deliberately delayed Muse despite having a strong version of the AI agent months earlier, arguing that privacy, security, and user trust mattered more than getting the product to market as quickly as possible.

“With the Muse launch that we just did, we had a version of it that was quite good a few months ago. And we wanted to make sure that we really nailed all the privacy and security parts of it,” he said.

Zuckerberg said Meta is entering a phase where “trust and alignment” could matter more than simply improving an AI model’s raw capabilities.

“I held Muse back for a few months because we wanted it to be a better product for people,” he said, adding that the delay was “the right thing for people and it was the right thing for Meta.”

Retail View On META

On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment for META was ‘bullish’ as of early Thursday, with the ticker trending at the top on the platform.

“$META entire dip has been bought,” said a trader. Another wrote: “Meta got it right with Muse and this is just the beginning. It’s an amazing app and Muse is really engaging.”

META shares are up more than 13% this year, making it the third-best performer among its "Magnificent Seven" peers.

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